Methods and systems for phonetic matching in digital assistant services

ABSTRACT

Systems and processes for operating an intelligent automated assistant to provide media items based on phonetic matching techniques are provided. An example method includes receiving a speech input from a user and determining whether the speech input includes a user request for a media item. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes a user request for obtaining a media item, determining a candidate media item from a plurality of media items. The method further includes determining, based on a difference between a phonetic representation of the candidate media item and a phonetic representation of the speech input, whether the candidate media item is to be provided to the user. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the candidate media item is to be provided to the user, providing the candidate media item to the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationNo. 62/506,871, entitled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PHONETIC MATCHING INDIGITAL ASSISTANT SERVICES,” filed on May 16, 2017, and U.S. provisionalpatent application No. 62/555,311, entitled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORPHONETIC MATCHING IN DIGITAL ASSISTANT SERVICES,” filed on Sep. 7, 2017.The content of both applications is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety for all purposes.

FIELD

This relates generally to intelligent automated assistants and, morespecifically, to intelligent automated assistants for providing mediaitems based on phonetic matching techniques.

BACKGROUND

Intelligent automated assistants (or digital assistants) can provide abeneficial interface between human users and electronic devices. Suchassistants can allow users to interact with devices or systems usingnatural language in spoken and/or text forms. For example, a user canprovide a speech input containing a user request to a digital assistantoperating on an electronic device. The digital assistant can interpretthe user's intent from the speech input and operationalize the user'sintent into tasks. The tasks can then be performed by executing one ormore services of the electronic device, and a relevant output responsiveto the user request can be returned to the user.

A digital assistant can be used to obtain media items based on user'sspeech inputs. For example, in an attempt to get a song, a user may say“Play Skrrt Skrrt by 21 Savage.” Due to a number of reasons (e.g., thesimilarity of pronunciations, the similarity of names of available,media items, lack of context information for intent inference), the userintent interpretation of a speech input for obtaining a media item maybe difficult and inaccurate. Inaccurate user intent interpretation maycause the digital assistant to obtain an incorrect media item or fail toobtain any media item. In the above example, the digital assistant mayfail to obtain a correct media item if the digital assistant interpretsthe user input as “Skirt by Kodak Black,” “Skrrt by Kodak Black,” or“Skrt Skrt by 21 Savage.” In another example, the user may want an albumnamed “Candyman by Zedd,” and the digital assistant may erroneouslyinterpret as “Candy Man by Zedd,” which may fail to identify and returnthe correct album.

SUMMARY

Systems and processes for providing digital assistant services forobtaining media items are provided.

Example methods are disclosed herein. An example method includes, at anelectronic device having one or more processors, receiving a speechinput from a user and determining whether the speech input includes auser request for a media item. The method further includes, inaccordance with a determination that the speech input includes a userrequest for obtaining a media item, determining a candidate media itemfrom a plurality of media items. The method further includesdetermining, based on a difference between a phonetic representation ofthe candidate media item and a phonetic representation of the speechinput, whether the candidate media item is to be provided to the user.The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that thecandidate media item is to be provided to the user, providing thecandidate media item to the user.

Example non-transitory computer-readable media are disclosed herein. Anexample non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores one ormore programs. The one or more programs comprise instructions, whichwhen executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, causethe electronic device to receive a speech input from a user anddetermine whether the speech input includes a user request for a mediaitem. The one or more programs include further instructions that causethe electronic device to, in accordance with a determination that thespeech input includes a user request for obtaining a media item,determine a candidate media item from a plurality of media items. Theone or more programs include further instructions that cause theelectronic device to determine, based on a difference between a phoneticrepresentation of the candidate media item and a phonetic representationof the speech input, whether the candidate media item is to be providedto the user. The one or more programs include further instructions thatcause the electronic device to, in accordance with a determination thatthe candidate media item is to be provided to the user, provide thecandidate media item to the user.

Example electronic devices are disclosed herein. An example electronicdevice comprises one or more processors; a memory; and one or moreprograms, where the one or more programs are stored in the memory andconfigured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or moreprograms including instructions for receiving a speech input from a userand determining whether the speech input includes a user request for amedia item. The one or more programs further include instructions for,in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes a userrequest for obtaining a media item, determining a candidate media itemfrom a plurality of media items. The one or more programs furtherinclude instructions for determining, based on a difference between aphonetic representation of the candidate media item and a phoneticrepresentation of the speech input, whether the candidate media item isto be provided to the user. The one or more programs further includeinstructions for, in accordance with a determination that the candidatemedia item is to be provided to the user, providing the candidate mediaitem to the user.

An example electronic device comprises means for receiving a speechinput from a user and determining whether the speech input includes auser request for a media item. The electronic device further includesmeans for, in accordance with a determination that the speech inputincludes a user request for obtaining a media item, determining acandidate media item from a plurality of media items. The electronicdevice further includes means for determining, based on a differencebetween a phonetic representation of the candidate media item and aphonetic representation of the speech input, whether the candidate mediaitem is to be provided to the user. The electronic device furtherincludes means for, in accordance with a determination that thecandidate media item is to be provided to the user, providing thecandidate media item to the user.

Phonetic matching techniques can be used to improve the accuracy inobtaining the media items based on speech inputs. As described above,obtaining media items based on user's speech input may be associatedwith difficulty in user intent interpretation, which causes failure toobtain the correct media items. Phonetic matching techniques can beapplied to determine the difference between a phonetic representation ofa candidate media item obtained from a repository of media items and aphonetic representation of the speech input, thereby determining whetherthe candidate media item should be provided to the user. Under certaincircumstances, the candidate media item may represent the best availablemedia item in the repository, but may still not be the user intendedmedia item. By performing phonetic matching, the error rate of obtaininga media item that does not match with the user intent may be reduced.Furthermore, phonetic matching enhances the operability of the deviceand makes the user-device interface more efficient (e.g., by reducingthe error rate of obtaining incorrect media items) which, additionally,reduces power usage and improves battery life of the device by enablingthe user to use the device more quickly and efficiently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system and environment forimplementing a digital assistant, according to various examples.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating a portable multifunction deviceimplementing the client-side portion of a digital assistant, accordingto various examples.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling, according to various examples.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portable multifunction device implementing theclient-side portion of a digital assistant, according to variousexamples.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface, according to various examples.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary user interface for a menu ofapplications on a portable multifunction device, according to variousexamples.

FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary user interface for a multifunctiondevice with a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the display,according to various examples.

FIG. 6A illustrates a personal electronic device, according to variousexamples.

FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating a personal electronic device,according to various examples.

FIG. 7A is a block diagram illustrating a digital assistant system or aserver portion thereof, according to various examples.

FIG. 7B illustrates the functions of the digital assistant shown in FIG.7A, according to various examples.

FIG. 7C illustrates a portion of an ontology, according to variousexamples.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a digital assistant for providingmedia items based on phonetic matching techniques, according to variousexamples.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a digital assistant receivingspeech inputs from a user, according to various examples.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a request detector, according tovarious examples.

FIG. 11A illustrates a block diagram of a media item search engine,according to various examples.

FIG. 11B illustrates a block diagram for generating a phonomap,according various examples.

FIG. 11C illustrates an exemplary phonomap for an exemplary speechinput, according to various examples.

FIG. 11D illustrates another exemplary phonomap, according to variousexamples.

FIGS. 12A-12E illustrate a process for operating a digital assistant toprovide media items based on speech inputs, according to variousexamples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of examples, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings in which are shown by way of illustration specificexamples that can be practiced. It is to be understood that otherexamples can be used and structural changes can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the various examples.

Techniques for providing media items to user based on user's speechinputs are desirable. Phonetic matching techniques can be used toimprove the accuracy in obtaining the media items. In some examples, aspeech input is received from the user and it is determined whether thespeech input includes a user request for a media item. If the speechinput includes a user request for a media item, a candidate media itemis determined from a repository of media items. The candidate media itemmay represent a closet match between the requested media item as derivedfrom the speech input and the media items available in the repository.Phonetic matching techniques can be applied to determine the differencebetween the phonetic representation of the candidate media item and thephonetic representation of the speech input, thereby determining whetherthe candidate media item should be provided to the user. If thedifference does not satisfy a threshold condition, it is likely that thecandidate media item does not match with the user request, and thereforewould not be provided to the user. The phonetic matching techniques mayreduce the error rate in obtaining media items, and enhance theuser-interaction efficiency.

Although the following description uses terms “first,” “second,” etc. todescribe various elements, these elements should not be limited by theterms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element fromanother. For example, a first input could be termed a second input, and,similarly, a second input could be termed a first input, withoutdeparting from the scope of the various described examples. The firstinput and the second input are both inputs and, in some cases, areseparate and different inputs.

The terminology used in the description of the various describedexamples herein is for the purpose of describing particular examplesonly and is not intended to be limiting. As used in the description ofthe various described examples and the appended claims, the singularforms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms aswell, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also beunderstood that the term “and/or” as used herein refers to andencompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms“includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used inthis specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers,steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon” or “in responseto determining” or “in response to detecting,” depending on the context.Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [a stated conditionor event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upon determining” or“in response to determining” or “upon detecting [the stated condition orevent]” or “in response to detecting [the stated condition or event],”depending on the context.

1. System and Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of system 100 according to variousexamples. In some examples, system 100 implements a digital assistant.The terms “digital assistant,” “virtual assistant,” “intelligentautomated assistant,” or “automatic digital assistant” refer to anyinformation processing system that interprets natural language input inspoken and/or textual form to infer user intent, and performs actionsbased on the inferred user intent. For example, to act on an inferreduser intent, the system performs one or more of the following:identifying a task flow with steps and parameters designed to accomplishthe inferred user intent, inputting specific requirements from theinferred user intent into the task flow; executing the task flow byinvoking programs, methods, services, APIs, or the like; and generatingoutput responses to the user in an audible (e.g., speech) and/or visualform.

Specifically, a digital assistant is capable of accepting a user requestat least partially in the form of a natural language command, request,statement, narrative, and/or inquiry. Typically, the user request seekseither an informational answer or performance of a task by the digitalassistant. A satisfactory response to the user request includes aprovision of the requested informational answer, a performance of therequested task, or a combination of the two. For example, a user asksthe digital assistant a question, such as “Where am I right now?” Basedon the user's current location, the digital assistant answers, “You arein Central Park near the west gate.” The user also requests theperformance of a task, for example, “Please invite my friends to mygirlfriend's birthday party next week.” In response, the digitalassistant can acknowledge the request by saying “Yes, right away,” andthen send a suitable calendar invite on behalf of the user to each ofthe user's friends listed in the user's electronic address book. Duringperformance of a requested task, the digital assistant sometimesinteracts with the user in a continuous dialogue involving multipleexchanges of information over an extended period of time. There arenumerous other ways of interacting with a digital assistant to requestinformation or performance of various tasks. In addition to providingverbal responses and taking programmed actions, the digital assistantalso provides responses in other visual or audio forms, e.g., as text,alerts, music, videos, animations, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1, in some examples, a digital assistant is implementedaccording to a client-server model. The digital assistant includesclient-side portion 102 (hereafter “DA client 102”) executed on userdevice 104 and server-side portion 106 (hereafter “DA server 106”)executed on server system 108. DA client 102 communicates with DA server106 through one or more networks 110. DA client 102 provides client-sidefunctionalities such as user-facing input and output processing andcommunication with DA server 106. DA server 106 provides server-sidefunctionalities for any number of DA clients 102 each residing on arespective user device 104.

In some examples, DA server 106 includes client-facing I/O interface112, one or more processing modules 114, data and models 116, and I/Ointerface to external services 118. The client-facing I/O interface 112facilitates the client-facing input and output processing for DA server106. One or more processing modules 114 utilize data and models 116 toprocess speech input and determine the user's intent based on naturallanguage input. Further, one or more processing modules 114 perform taskexecution based on inferred user intent. In some examples, DA server 106communicates with external services 120 through network(s) 110 for taskcompletion or information acquisition. I/O interface to externalservices 118 facilitates such communications.

User device 104 can be any suitable electronic device. In some examples,user device is a portable multifunctional device (e.g., device 200,described below with reference to FIG. 2A), a multifunctional device(e.g., device 400, described below with reference to FIG. 4), or apersonal electronic device (e.g., device 600, described below withreference to FIG. 6A-B.) A portable multifunctional device is, forexample, a mobile telephone that also contains other functions, such asPDA and/or music player functions. Specific examples of portablemultifunction devices include the iPhone®, iPod Touch®, and iPad®devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Other examples of portablemultifunction devices include, without limitation, laptop or tabletcomputers. Further, in some examples, user device 104 is a non-portablemultifunctional device. In particular, user device 104 is a desktopcomputer, a game console, a television, or a television set-top box. Insome examples, user device 104 includes a touch-sensitive surface (e.g.,touch screen displays and/or touchpads). Further, user device 104optionally includes one or more other physical user-interface devices,such as a physical keyboard, a mouse, and/or a joystick. Variousexamples of electronic devices, such as multifunctional devices, aredescribed below in greater detail.

Examples of communication network(s) 110 include local area networks(LAN) and wide area networks (WAN), e.g., the Internet. Communicationnetwork(s) 110 is implemented using any known network protocol,including various wired or wireless protocols, such as, for example,Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), codedivision multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA),Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, or anyother suitable communication protocol.

Server system 108 is implemented on one or more standalone dataprocessing apparatus or a distributed network of computers. In someexamples, server system 108 also employs various virtual devices and/orservices of third-party service providers (e.g., third-party cloudservice providers) to provide the underlying computing resources and/orinfrastructure resources of server system 108.

In some examples, user device 104 communicates with DA server 106 viasecond user device 122. Second user device 122 is similar or identicalto user device 104. For example, second user device 122 is similar todevices 200, 400, or 600 described below with reference to FIGS. 2A, 4,and 6A-B. User device 104 is configured to communicatively couple tosecond user device 122 via a direct communication connection, such asBluetooth, NFC, BTLE, or the like, or via a wired or wireless network,such as a local Wi-Fi network. In some examples, second user device 122is configured to act as a proxy between user device 104 and DA server106. For example, DA client 102 of user device 104 is configured totransmit information (e.g., a user request received at user device 104)to DA server 106 via second user device 122. DA server 106 processes theinformation and return relevant data (e.g., data content responsive tothe user request) to user device 104 via second user device 122.

In some examples, user device 104 is configured to communicateabbreviated requests for data to second user device 122 to reduce theamount of information transmitted from user device 104. Second userdevice 122 is configured to determine supplemental information to add tothe abbreviated request to generate a complete request to transmit to DAserver 106. This system architecture can advantageously allow userdevice 104 having limited communication capabilities and/or limitedbattery power (e.g., a watch or a similar compact electronic device) toaccess services provided by DA server 106 by using second user device122, having greater communication capabilities and/or battery power(e.g., a mobile phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, or the like),as a proxy to DA server 106. While only two user devices 104 and 122 areshown in FIG. 1, it should be appreciated that system 100, in someexamples, includes any number and type of user devices configured inthis proxy configuration to communicate with DA server system 106.

Although the digital assistant shown in FIG. 1 includes both aclient-side portion (e.g., DA client 102) and a server-side portion(e.g., DA server 106), in some examples, the functions of a digitalassistant are implemented as a standalone application installed on auser device. In addition, the divisions of functionalities between theclient and server portions of the digital assistant can vary indifferent implementations. For instance, in some examples, the DA clientis a thin-client that provides only user-facing input and outputprocessing functions, and delegates all other functionalities of thedigital assistant to a backend server.

2. Electronic Devices

Attention is now directed toward embodiments of electronic devices forimplementing the client-side portion of a digital assistant. FIG. 2A isa block diagram illustrating portable multifunction device 200 withtouch-sensitive display system 212 in accordance with some embodiments.Touch-sensitive display 212 is sometimes called a “touch screen” forconvenience and is sometimes known as or called a “touch-sensitivedisplay system.” Device 200 includes memory 202 (which optionallyincludes one or more computer-readable storage mediums), memorycontroller 222, one or more processing units (CPUs) 220, peripheralsinterface 218, RF circuitry 208, audio circuitry 210, speaker 211,microphone 213, input/output (I/O) subsystem 206, other input controldevices 216, and external port 224. Device 200 optionally includes oneor more optical sensors 264. Device 200 optionally includes one or morecontact intensity sensors 265 for detecting intensity of contacts ondevice 200 (e.g., a touch-sensitive surface such as touch-sensitivedisplay system 212 of device 200). Device 200 optionally includes one ormore tactile output generators 267 for generating tactile outputs ondevice 200 (e.g., generating tactile outputs on a touch-sensitivesurface such as touch-sensitive display system 212 of device 200 ortouchpad 455 of device 400). These components optionally communicateover one or more communication buses or signal lines 203.

As used in the specification and claims, the term “intensity” of acontact on a touch-sensitive surface refers to the force or pressure(force per unit area) of a contact (e.g., a finger contact) on thetouch-sensitive surface, or to a substitute (proxy) for the force orpressure of a contact on the touch-sensitive surface. The intensity of acontact has a range of values that includes at least four distinctvalues and more typically includes hundreds of distinct values (e.g., atleast 256). Intensity of a contact is, optionally, determined (ormeasured) using various approaches and various sensors or combinationsof sensors. For example, one or more force sensors underneath oradjacent to the touch-sensitive surface are, optionally, used to measureforce at various points on the touch-sensitive surface. In someimplementations, force measurements from multiple force sensors arecombined (e.g., a weighted average) to determine an estimated force of acontact. Similarly, a pressure-sensitive tip of a stylus is, optionally,used to determine a pressure of the stylus on the touch-sensitivesurface. Alternatively, the size of the contact area detected on thetouch-sensitive surface and/or changes thereto, the capacitance of thetouch-sensitive surface proximate to the contact and/or changes thereto,and/or the resistance of the touch-sensitive surface proximate to thecontact and/or changes thereto are, optionally, used as a substitute forthe force or pressure of the contact on the touch-sensitive surface. Insome implementations, the substitute measurements for contact force orpressure are used directly to determine whether an intensity thresholdhas been exceeded (e.g., the intensity threshold is described in unitscorresponding to the substitute measurements). In some implementations,the substitute measurements for contact force or pressure are convertedto an estimated force or pressure, and the estimated force or pressureis used to determine whether an intensity threshold has been exceeded(e.g., the intensity threshold is a pressure threshold measured in unitsof pressure). Using the intensity of a contact as an attribute of a userinput allows for user access to additional device functionality that mayotherwise not be accessible by the user on a reduced-size device withlimited real estate for displaying affordances (e.g., on atouch-sensitive display) and/or receiving user input (e.g., via atouch-sensitive display, a touch-sensitive surface, or aphysical/mechanical control such as a knob or a button).

As used in the specification and claims, the term “tactile output”refers to physical displacement of a device relative to a previousposition of the device, physical displacement of a component (e.g., atouch-sensitive surface) of a device relative to another component(e.g., housing) of the device, or displacement of the component relativeto a center of mass of the device that will be detected by a user withthe user's sense of touch. For example, in situations where the deviceor the component of the device is in contact with a surface of a userthat is sensitive to touch (e.g., a finger, palm, or other part of auser's hand), the tactile output generated by the physical displacementwill be interpreted by the user as a tactile sensation corresponding toa perceived change in physical characteristics of the device or thecomponent of the device. For example, movement of a touch-sensitivesurface (e.g., a touch-sensitive display or trackpad) is, optionally,interpreted by the user as a “down click” or “up click” of a physicalactuator button. In some cases, a user will feel a tactile sensationsuch as an “down click” or “up click” even when there is no movement ofa physical actuator button associated with the touch-sensitive surfacethat is physically pressed (e.g., displaced) by the user's movements. Asanother example, movement of the touch-sensitive surface is, optionally,interpreted or sensed by the user as “roughness” of the touch-sensitivesurface, even when there is no change in smoothness of thetouch-sensitive surface. While such interpretations of touch by a userwill be subject to the individualized sensory perceptions of the user,there are many sensory perceptions of touch that are common to a largemajority of users. Thus, when a tactile output is described ascorresponding to a particular sensory perception of a user (e.g., an “upclick,” a “down click,” “roughness”), unless otherwise stated, thegenerated tactile output corresponds to physical displacement of thedevice or a component thereof that will generate the described sensoryperception for a typical (or average) user.

It should be appreciated that device 200 is only one example of aportable multifunction device, and that device 200 optionally has moreor fewer components than shown, optionally combines two or morecomponents, or optionally has a different configuration or arrangementof the components. The various components shown in FIG. 2A areimplemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both hardware andsoftware, including one or more signal processing and/orapplication-specific integrated circuits.

Memory 202 includes one or more computer-readable storage mediums. Thecomputer-readable storage mediums are, for example, tangible andnon-transitory. Memory 202 includes high-speed random access memory andalso includes non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic diskstorage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-statememory devices. Memory controller 222 controls access to memory 202 byother components of device 200.

In some examples, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofmemory 202 is used to store instructions (e.g., for performing aspectsof processes described below) for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as acomputer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system thatcan fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In other examples,the instructions (e.g., for performing aspects of the processesdescribed below) are stored on a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium (not shown) of the server system 108 or are dividedbetween the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of memory202 and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of serversystem 108.

Peripherals interface 218 is used to couple input and output peripheralsof the device to CPU 220 and memory 202. The one or more processors 220run or execute various software programs and/or sets of instructionsstored in memory 202 to perform various functions for device 200 and toprocess data. In some embodiments, peripherals interface 218, CPU 220,and memory controller 222 are implemented on a single chip, such as chip204. In some other embodiments, they are implemented on separate chips.

RF (radio frequency) circuitry 208 receives and sends RF signals, alsocalled electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 208 converts electricalsignals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates withcommunications networks and other communications devices via theelectromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 208 optionally includes well-knowncircuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited toan antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner,one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, asubscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. RFcircuitry 208 optionally communicates with networks, such as theInternet, also referred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranetand/or a wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network, awireless local area network (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network(MAN), and other devices by wireless communication. The RF circuitry 208optionally includes well-known circuitry for detecting near fieldcommunication (NFC) fields, such as by a short-range communicationradio. The wireless communication optionally uses any of a plurality ofcommunications standards, protocols, and technologies, including but notlimited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced DataGSM Environment (EDGE), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA),high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), Evolution, Data-Only (EV-DO),HSPA, HSPA+, Dual-Cell HSPA (DC-HSPDA), long term evolution (LTE), nearfield communication (NFC), wideband code division multiple access(W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), Wireless Fidelity(Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n,and/or IEEE 802.11ac), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, aprotocol for e mail (e.g., Internet message access protocol (IMAP)and/or post office protocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., extensiblemessaging and presence protocol (XMPP), Session Initiation Protocol forInstant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), InstantMessaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service(SMS), or any other suitable communication protocol, includingcommunication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of thisdocument.

Audio circuitry 210, speaker 211, and microphone 213 provide an audiointerface between a user and device 200. Audio circuitry 210 receivesaudio data from peripherals interface 218, converts the audio data to anelectrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker 211.Speaker 211 converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves.Audio circuitry 210 also receives electrical signals converted bymicrophone 213 from sound waves. Audio circuitry 210 converts theelectrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data toperipherals interface 218 for processing. Audio data are retrieved fromand/or transmitted to memory 202 and/or RF circuitry 208 by peripheralsinterface 218. In some embodiments, audio circuitry 210 also includes aheadset jack (e.g., 312, FIG. 3). The headset jack provides an interfacebetween audio circuitry 210 and removable audio input/outputperipherals, such as output-only headphones or a headset with bothoutput (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input (e.g., amicrophone).

I/O subsystem 206 couples input/output peripherals on device 200, suchas touch screen 212 and other input control devices 216, to peripheralsinterface 218. I/O subsystem 206 optionally includes display controller256, optical sensor controller 258, intensity sensor controller 259,haptic feedback controller 261, and one or more input controllers 260for other input or control devices. The one or more input controllers260 receive/send electrical signals from/to other input control devices216. The other input control devices 216 optionally include physicalbuttons (e.g., push buttons, rocker buttons, etc.), dials, sliderswitches, joysticks, click wheels, and so forth. In some alternateembodiments, input controller(s) 260 are, optionally, coupled to any (ornone) of the following: a keyboard, an infrared port, a USB port, and apointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons (e.g., 308, FIG.3) optionally include an up/down button for volume control of speaker211 and/or microphone 213. The one or more buttons optionally include apush button (e.g., 306, FIG. 3).

A quick press of the push button disengages a lock of touch screen 212or begin a process that uses gestures on the touch screen to unlock thedevice, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/322,549,“Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image,” filedDec. 23, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 7,657,849, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. A longer press of the push button (e.g., 306)turns power to device 200 on or off. The user is able to customize afunctionality of one or more of the buttons. Touch screen 212 is used toimplement virtual or soft buttons and one or more soft keyboards.

Touch-sensitive display 212 provides an input interface and an outputinterface between the device and a user. Display controller 256 receivesand/or sends electrical signals from/to touch screen 212. Touch screen212 displays visual output to the user. The visual output includesgraphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectivelytermed “graphics”). In some embodiments, some or all of the visualoutput correspond to user-interface objects.

Touch screen 212 has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor, or set ofsensors that accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactilecontact. Touch screen 212 and display controller 256 (along with anyassociated modules and/or sets of instructions in memory 202) detectcontact (and any movement or breaking of the contact) on touch screen212 and convert the detected contact into interaction withuser-interface objects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages,or images) that are displayed on touch screen 212. In an exemplaryembodiment, a point of contact between touch screen 212 and the usercorresponds to a finger of the user.

Touch screen 212 uses LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD(light emitting polymer display) technology, or LED (light emittingdiode) technology, although other display technologies may be used inother embodiments. Touch screen 212 and display controller 256 detectcontact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of a plurality oftouch sensing technologies now known or later developed, including butnot limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acousticwave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or otherelements for determining one or more points of contact with touch screen212. In an exemplary embodiment, projected mutual capacitance sensingtechnology is used, such as that found in the iPhone® and iPod Touch®from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 212 isanalogous to the multi-touch sensitive touchpads described in thefollowing U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), U.S. Pat. No.6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,932(Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1, each ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. However,touch screen 212 displays visual output from device 200, whereastouch-sensitive touchpads do not provide visual output.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 212 is asdescribed in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed May 2,2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “MultipointTouchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30,2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures ForTouch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User InterfacesFor Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On ATouch Screen User Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A TouchScreen Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen VirtualKeyboard,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 3, 2006. Allof these applications are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

Touch screen 212 has, for example, a video resolution in excess of 100dpi. In some embodiments, the touch screen has a video resolution ofapproximately 160 dpi. The user makes contact with touch screen 212using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, andso forth. In some embodiments, the user interface is designed to workprimarily with finger-based contacts and gestures, which can be lessprecise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of afinger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the device translatesthe rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position orcommand for performing the actions desired by the user.

In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, device 200includes a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivatingparticular functions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is atouch-sensitive area of the device that, unlike the touch screen, doesnot display visual output. The touchpad is a touch-sensitive surfacethat is separate from touch screen 212 or an extension of thetouch-sensitive surface formed by the touch screen.

Device 200 also includes power system 262 for powering the variouscomponents. Power system 262 includes a power management system, one ormore power sources (e.g., battery, alternating current (AC)), arecharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converteror inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., a light-emitting diode(LED)) and any other components associated with the generation,management and distribution of power in portable devices.

Device 200 also includes one or more optical sensors 264. FIG. 2A showsan optical sensor coupled to optical sensor controller 258 in I/Osubsystem 206. Optical sensor 264 includes charge-coupled device (CCD)or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistors.Optical sensor 264 receives light from the environment, projectedthrough one or more lenses, and converts the light to data representingan image. In conjunction with imaging module 243 (also called a cameramodule), optical sensor 264 captures still images or video. In someembodiments, an optical sensor is located on the back of device 200,opposite touch screen display 212 on the front of the device so that thetouch screen display is used as a viewfinder for still and/or videoimage acquisition. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located onthe front of the device so that the user's image is obtained for videoconferencing while the user views the other video conferenceparticipants on the touch screen display. In some embodiments, theposition of optical sensor 264 can be changed by the user (e.g., byrotating the lens and the sensor in the device housing) so that a singleoptical sensor 264 is used along with the touch screen display for bothvideo conferencing and still and/or video image acquisition.

Device 200 optionally also includes one or more contact intensitysensors 265. FIG. 2A shows a contact intensity sensor coupled tointensity sensor controller 259 in I/O subsystem 206. Contact intensitysensor 265 optionally includes one or more piezoresistive strain gauges,capacitive force sensors, electric force sensors, piezoelectric forcesensors, optical force sensors, capacitive touch-sensitive surfaces, orother intensity sensors (e.g., sensors used to measure the force (orpressure) of a contact on a touch-sensitive surface). Contact intensitysensor 265 receives contact intensity information (e.g., pressureinformation or a proxy for pressure information) from the environment.In some embodiments, at least one contact intensity sensor is collocatedwith, or proximate to, a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touch-sensitivedisplay system 212). In some embodiments, at least one contact intensitysensor is located on the back of device 200, opposite touch screendisplay 212, which is located on the front of device 200.

Device 200 also includes one or more proximity sensors 266. FIG. 2Ashows proximity sensor 266 coupled to peripherals interface 218.Alternately, proximity sensor 266 is coupled to input controller 260 inI/O subsystem 206. Proximity sensor 266 is performed as described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/241,839, “Proximity Detector InHandheld Device”; Ser. No. 11/240,788, “Proximity Detector In HandheldDevice”; Ser. No. 11/620,702, “Using Ambient Light Sensor To AugmentProximity Sensor Output”; Ser. No. 11/586,862, “Automated Response ToAnd Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices”; and Ser. No.11/638,251, “Methods And Systems For Automatic Configuration OfPeripherals,” which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety. In some embodiments, the proximity sensor turns off anddisables touch screen 212 when the multifunction device is placed nearthe user's ear (e.g., when the user is making a phone call).

Device 200 optionally also includes one or more tactile outputgenerators 267. FIG. 2A shows a tactile output generator coupled tohaptic feedback controller 261 in I/O subsystem 206. Tactile outputgenerator 267 optionally includes one or more electroacoustic devicessuch as speakers or other audio components and/or electromechanicaldevices that convert energy into linear motion such as a motor,solenoid, electroactive polymer, piezoelectric actuator, electrostaticactuator, or other tactile output generating component (e.g., acomponent that converts electrical signals into tactile outputs on thedevice). Contact intensity sensor 265 receives tactile feedbackgeneration instructions from haptic feedback module 233 and generatestactile outputs on device 200 that are capable of being sensed by a userof device 200. In some embodiments, at least one tactile outputgenerator is collocated with, or proximate to, a touch-sensitive surface(e.g., touch-sensitive display system 212) and, optionally, generates atactile output by moving the touch-sensitive surface vertically (e.g.,in/out of a surface of device 200) or laterally (e.g., back and forth inthe same plane as a surface of device 200). In some embodiments, atleast one tactile output generator sensor is located on the back ofdevice 200, opposite touch screen display 212, which is located on thefront of device 200.

Device 200 also includes one or more accelerometers 268. FIG. 2A showsaccelerometer 268 coupled to peripherals interface 218. Alternately,accelerometer 268 is coupled to an input controller 260 in I/O subsystem206. Accelerometer 268 performs, for example, as described in U.S.Patent Publication No. 20050190059, “Acceleration-based Theft DetectionSystem for Portable Electronic Devices,” and U.S. Patent Publication No.20060017692, “Methods And Apparatuses For Operating A Portable DeviceBased On An Accelerometer,” both of which are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety. In some embodiments, information is displayedon the touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscape view basedon an analysis of data received from the one or more accelerometers.Device 200 optionally includes, in addition to accelerometer(s) 268, amagnetometer (not shown) and a GPS (or GLONASS or other globalnavigation system) receiver (not shown) for obtaining informationconcerning the location and orientation (e.g., portrait or landscape) ofdevice 200.

In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory 202include operating system 226, communication module (or set ofinstructions) 228, contact/motion module (or set of instructions) 230,graphics module (or set of instructions) 232, text input module (or setof instructions) 234, Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set ofinstructions) 235, Digital Assistant Client Module 229, and applications(or sets of instructions) 236. Further, memory 202 stores data andmodels, such as user data and models 231. Furthermore, in someembodiments, memory 202 (FIG. 2A) or 470 (FIG. 4) stores device/globalinternal state 257, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 4. Device/global internalstate 257 includes one or more of: active application state, indicatingwhich applications, if any, are currently active; display state,indicating what applications, views or other information occupy variousregions of touch screen display 212; sensor state, including informationobtained from the device's various sensors and input control devices216; and location information concerning the device's location and/orattitude.

Operating system 226 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, iOS,WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includesvarious software components and/or drivers for controlling and managinggeneral system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control,power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between varioushardware and software components.

Communication module 228 facilitates communication with other devicesover one or more external ports 224 and also includes various softwarecomponents for handling data received by RF circuitry 208 and/orexternal port 224. External port 224 (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB),FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices orindirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.). Insome embodiments, the external port is a multi-pin (e.g., 30-pin)connector that is the same as, or similar to and/or compatible with, the30-pin connector used on iPod® (trademark of Apple Inc.) devices.

Contact/motion module 230 optionally detects contact with touch screen212 (in conjunction with display controller 256) and othertouch-sensitive devices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel).Contact/motion module 230 includes various software components forperforming various operations related to detection of contact, such asdetermining if contact has occurred (e.g., detecting a finger-downevent), determining an intensity of the contact (e.g., the force orpressure of the contact or a substitute for the force or pressure of thecontact), determining if there is movement of the contact and trackingthe movement across the touch-sensitive surface (e.g., detecting one ormore finger-dragging events), and determining if the contact has ceased(e.g., detecting a finger-up event or a break in contact).Contact/motion module 230 receives contact data from the touch-sensitivesurface. Determining movement of the point of contact, which isrepresented by a series of contact data, optionally includes determiningspeed (magnitude), velocity (magnitude and direction), and/or anacceleration (a change in magnitude and/or direction) of the point ofcontact. These operations are, optionally, applied to single contacts(e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiple simultaneous contacts (e.g.,“multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). In some embodiments,contact/motion module 230 and display controller 256 detect contact on atouchpad.

In some embodiments, contact/motion module 230 uses a set of one or moreintensity thresholds to determine whether an operation has beenperformed by a user (e.g., to determine whether a user has “clicked” onan icon). In some embodiments, at least a subset of the intensitythresholds are determined in accordance with software parameters (e.g.,the intensity thresholds are not determined by the activation thresholdsof particular physical actuators and can be adjusted without changingthe physical hardware of device 200). For example, a mouse “click”threshold of a trackpad or touch screen display can be set to any of alarge range of predefined threshold values without changing the trackpador touch screen display hardware. Additionally, in some implementations,a user of the device is provided with software settings for adjustingone or more of the set of intensity thresholds (e.g., by adjustingindividual intensity thresholds and/or by adjusting a plurality ofintensity thresholds at once with a system-level click “intensity”parameter).

Contact/motion module 230 optionally detects a gesture input by a user.Different gestures on the touch-sensitive surface have different contactpatterns (e.g., different motions, timings, and/or intensities ofdetected contacts). Thus, a gesture is, optionally, detected bydetecting a particular contact pattern. For example, detecting a fingertap gesture includes detecting a finger-down event followed by detectinga finger-up (liftoff) event at the same position (or substantially thesame position) as the finger-down event (e.g., at the position of anicon). As another example, detecting a finger swipe gesture on thetouch-sensitive surface includes detecting a finger-down event followedby detecting one or more finger-dragging events, and subsequentlyfollowed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event.

Graphics module 232 includes various known software components forrendering and displaying graphics on touch screen 212 or other display,including components for changing the visual impact (e.g., brightness,transparency, saturation, contrast, or other visual property) ofgraphics that are displayed. As used herein, the term “graphics”includes any object that can be displayed to a user, including, withoutlimitation, text, web pages, icons (such as user-interface objectsincluding soft keys), digital images, videos, animations, and the like.

In some embodiments, graphics module 232 stores data representinggraphics to be used. Each graphic is, optionally, assigned acorresponding code. Graphics module 232 receives, from applicationsetc., one or more codes specifying graphics to be displayed along with,if necessary, coordinate data and other graphic property data, and thengenerates screen image data to output to display controller 256.

Haptic feedback module 233 includes various software components forgenerating instructions used by tactile output generator(s) 267 toproduce tactile outputs at one or more locations on device 200 inresponse to user interactions with device 200.

Text input module 234, which is, in some examples, a component ofgraphics module 232, provides soft keyboards for entering text invarious applications (e.g., contacts 237, email 240, IM 241, browser247, and any other application that needs text input).

GPS module 235 determines the location of the device and provides thisinformation for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone 238 foruse in location-based dialing; to camera 243 as picture/video metadata;and to applications that provide location-based services such as weatherwidgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets).

Digital assistant client module 229 includes various client-side digitalassistant instructions to provide the client-side functionalities of thedigital assistant. For example, digital assistant client module 229 iscapable of accepting voice input (e.g., speech input), text input, touchinput, and/or gestural input through various user interfaces (e.g.,microphone 213, accelerometer(s) 268, touch-sensitive display system212, optical sensor(s) 229, other input control devices 216, etc.) ofportable multifunction device 200. Digital assistant client module 229is also capable of providing output in audio (e.g., speech output),visual, and/or tactile forms through various output interfaces (e.g.,speaker 211, touch-sensitive display system 212, tactile outputgenerator(s) 267, etc.) of portable multifunction device 200. Forexample, output is provided as voice, sound, alerts, text messages,menus, graphics, videos, animations, vibrations, and/or combinations oftwo or more of the above. During operation, digital assistant clientmodule 229 communicates with DA server 106 using RF circuitry 208.

User data and models 231 include various data associated with the user(e.g., user-specific vocabulary data, user preference data,user-specified name pronunciations, data from the user's electronicaddress book, to-do lists, shopping lists, etc.) to provide theclient-side functionalities of the digital assistant. Further, user dataand models 231 include various models (e.g., speech recognition models,statistical language models, natural language processing models,ontology, task flow models, service models, etc.) for processing userinput and determining user intent.

In some examples, digital assistant client module 229 utilizes thevarious sensors, subsystems, and peripheral devices of portablemultifunction device 200 to gather additional information from thesurrounding environment of the portable multifunction device 200 toestablish a context associated with a user, the current userinteraction, and/or the current user input. In some examples, digitalassistant client module 229 provides the contextual information or asubset thereof with the user input to DA server 106 to help infer theuser's intent. In some examples, the digital assistant also uses thecontextual information to determine how to prepare and deliver outputsto the user. Contextual information is referred to as context data.

In some examples, the contextual information that accompanies the userinput includes sensor information, e.g., lighting, ambient noise,ambient temperature, images or videos of the surrounding environment,etc. In some examples, the contextual information can also include thephysical state of the device, e.g., device orientation, device location,device temperature, power level, speed, acceleration, motion patterns,cellular signals strength, etc. In some examples, information related tothe software state of DA server 106, e.g., running processes, installedprograms, past and present network activities, background services,error logs, resources usage, etc., and of portable multifunction device200 is provided to DA server 106 as contextual information associatedwith a user input.

In some examples, the digital assistant client module 229 selectivelyprovides information (e.g., user data 231) stored on the portablemultifunction device 200 in response to requests from DA server 106. Insome examples, digital assistant client module 229 also elicitsadditional input from the user via a natural language dialogue or otheruser interfaces upon request by DA server 106. Digital assistant clientmodule 229 passes the additional input to DA server 106 to help DAserver 106 in intent deduction and/or fulfillment of the user's intentexpressed in the user request.

A more detailed description of a digital assistant is described belowwith reference to FIGS. 7A-C. It should be recognized that digitalassistant client module 229 can include any number of the sub-modules ofdigital assistant module 726 described below.

Applications 236 include the following modules (or sets ofinstructions), or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Contacts module 237 (sometimes called an address book or contact        list);    -   Telephone module 238;    -   Video conference module 239;    -   E-mail client module 240;    -   Instant messaging (IM) module 241;    -   Workout support module 242;    -   Camera module 243 for still and/or video images;    -   Image management module 244;    -   Video player module;    -   Music player module;    -   Browser module 247;    -   Calendar module 248;    -   Widget modules 249, which includes, in some examples, one or        more of: weather widget 249-1, stocks widget 249-2, calculator        widget 249-3, alarm clock widget 249-4, dictionary widget 249-5,        and other widgets obtained by the user, as well as user-created        widgets 249-6;    -   Widget creator module 250 for making user-created widgets 249-6;    -   Search module 251;    -   Video and music player module 252, which merges video player        module and music player module;    -   Notes module 253;    -   Map module 254; and/or    -   Online video module 255.

Examples of other applications 236 that are stored in memory 202 includeother word processing applications, other image editing applications,drawing applications, presentation applications, JAVA-enabledapplications, encryption, digital rights management, voice recognition,and voice replication.

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256,contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, and text input module234, contacts module 237 are used to manage an address book or contactlist (e.g., stored in application internal state 292 of contacts module237 in memory 202 or memory 470), including: adding name(s) to theaddress book; deleting name(s) from the address book; associatingtelephone number(s), e-mail address(es), physical address(es) or otherinformation with a name; associating an image with a name; categorizingand sorting names; providing telephone numbers or e-mail addresses toinitiate and/or facilitate communications by telephone 238, videoconference module 239, e-mail 240, or IM 241; and so forth.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, audio circuitry 210, speaker 211,microphone 213, touch screen 212, display controller 256, contact/motionmodule 230, graphics module 232, and text input module 234, telephonemodule 238 are used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to atelephone number, access one or more telephone numbers in contactsmodule 237, modify a telephone number that has been entered, dial arespective telephone number, conduct a conversation, and disconnect orhang up when the conversation is completed. As noted above, the wirelesscommunication uses any of a plurality of communications standards,protocols, and technologies.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, audio circuitry 210, speaker 211,microphone 213, touch screen 212, display controller 256, optical sensor264, optical sensor controller 258, contact/motion module 230, graphicsmodule 232, text input module 234, contacts module 237, and telephonemodule 238, video conference module 239 includes executable instructionsto initiate, conduct, and terminate a video conference between a userand one or more other participants in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, and textinput module 234, e-mail client module 240 includes executableinstructions to create, send, receive, and manage e-mail in response touser instructions. In conjunction with image management module 244,e-mail client module 240 makes it very easy to create and send e-mailswith still or video images taken with camera module 243.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, and textinput module 234, the instant messaging module 241 includes executableinstructions to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to aninstant message, to modify previously entered characters, to transmit arespective instant message (for example, using a Short Message Service(SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol for telephony-basedinstant messages or using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS for Internet-basedinstant messages), to receive instant messages, and to view receivedinstant messages. In some embodiments, transmitted and/or receivedinstant messages include graphics, photos, audio files, video filesand/or other attachments as are supported in an MMS and/or an EnhancedMessaging Service (EMS). As used herein, “instant messaging” refers toboth telephony-based messages (e.g., messages sent using SMS or MMS) andInternet-based messages (e.g., messages sent using XMPP, SIMPLE, orIMPS).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, textinput module 234, GPS module 235, map module 254, and music playermodule, workout support module 242 includes executable instructions tocreate workouts (e.g., with time, distance, and/or calorie burninggoals); communicate with workout sensors (sports devices); receiveworkout sensor data; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout; selectand play music for a workout; and display, store, and transmit workoutdata.

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256, opticalsensor(s) 264, optical sensor controller 258, contact/motion module 230,graphics module 232, and image management module 244, camera module 243includes executable instructions to capture still images or video(including a video stream) and store them into memory 202, modifycharacteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image orvideo from memory 202.

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256,contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, text input module 234,and camera module 243, image management module 244 includes executableinstructions to arrange, modify (e.g., edit), or otherwise manipulate,label, delete, present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), andstore still and/or video images.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, and textinput module 234, browser module 247 includes executable instructions tobrowse the Internet in accordance with user instructions, includingsearching, linking to, receiving, and displaying web pages or portionsthereof, as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, textinput module 234, e-mail client module 240, and browser module 247,calendar module 248 includes executable instructions to create, display,modify, and store calendars and data associated with calendars (e.g.,calendar entries, to-do lists, etc.) in accordance with userinstructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, textinput module 234, and browser module 247, widget modules 249 aremini-applications that can be downloaded and used by a user (e.g.,weather widget 249-1, stocks widget 249-2, calculator widget 249-3,alarm clock widget 249-4, and dictionary widget 249-5) or created by theuser (e.g., user-created widget 249-6). In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file, a CSS (CascadingStyle Sheets) file, and a JavaScript file. In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file and a JavaScript file(e.g., Yahoo! Widgets).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, textinput module 234, and browser module 247, the widget creator module 250are used by a user to create widgets (e.g., turning a user-specifiedportion of a web page into a widget).

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256,contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, and text input module234, search module 251 includes executable instructions to search fortext, music, sound, image, video, and/or other files in memory 202 thatmatch one or more search criteria (e.g., one or more user-specifiedsearch terms) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256,contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, audio circuitry 210,speaker 211, RF circuitry 208, and browser module 247, video and musicplayer module 252 includes executable instructions that allow the userto download and play back recorded music and other sound files stored inone or more file formats, such as MP3 or AAC files, and executableinstructions to display, present, or otherwise play back videos (e.g.,on touch screen 212 or on an external, connected display via externalport 224). In some embodiments, device 200 optionally includes thefunctionality of an MP3 player, such as an iPod (trademark of AppleInc.).

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256,contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, and text input module234, notes module 253 includes executable instructions to create andmanage notes, to-do lists, and the like in accordance with userinstructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 208, touch screen 212, displaycontroller 256, contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, textinput module 234, GPS module 235, and browser module 247, map module 254are used to receive, display, modify, and store maps and data associatedwith maps (e.g., driving directions, data on stores and other points ofinterest at or near a particular location, and other location-baseddata) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 212, display controller 256,contact/motion module 230, graphics module 232, audio circuitry 210,speaker 211, RF circuitry 208, text input module 234, e-mail clientmodule 240, and browser module 247, online video module 255 includesinstructions that allow the user to access, browse, receive (e.g., bystreaming and/or download), play back (e.g., on the touch screen or onan external, connected display via external port 224), send an e-mailwith a link to a particular online video, and otherwise manage onlinevideos in one or more file formats, such as H.264. In some embodiments,instant messaging module 241, rather than e-mail client module 240, isused to send a link to a particular online video. Additional descriptionof the online video application can be found in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/936,562, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, andGraphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Jun. 20,2007, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/968,067, “PortableMultifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for PlayingOnline Videos,” filed Dec. 31, 2007, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

Each of the above-identified modules and applications corresponds to aset of executable instructions for performing one or more functionsdescribed above and the methods described in this application (e.g., thecomputer-implemented methods and other information processing methodsdescribed herein). These modules (e.g., sets of instructions) need notbe implemented as separate software programs, procedures, or modules,and thus various subsets of these modules can be combined or otherwiserearranged in various embodiments. For example, video player module canbe combined with music player module into a single module (e.g., videoand music player module 252, FIG. 2A). In some embodiments, memory 202stores a subset of the modules and data structures identified above.Furthermore, memory 202 stores additional modules and data structuresnot described above.

In some embodiments, device 200 is a device where operation of apredefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/ora touchpad as the primary input control device for operation of device200, the number of physical input control devices (such as push buttons,dials, and the like) on device 200 is reduced.

The predefined set of functions that are performed exclusively through atouch screen and/or a touchpad optionally include navigation betweenuser interfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by theuser, navigates device 200 to a main, home, or root menu from any userinterface that is displayed on device 200. In such embodiments, a “menubutton” is implemented using a touchpad. In some other embodiments, themenu button is a physical push button or other physical input controldevice instead of a touchpad.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments,memory 202 (FIG. 2A) or 470 (FIG. 4) includes event sorter 270 (e.g., inoperating system 226) and a respective application 236-1 (e.g., any ofthe aforementioned applications 237-251, 255, 480-490).

Event sorter 270 receives event information and determines theapplication 236-1 and application view 291 of application 236-1 to whichto deliver the event information. Event sorter 270 includes eventmonitor 271 and event dispatcher module 274. In some embodiments,application 236-1 includes application internal state 292, whichindicates the current application view(s) displayed on touch-sensitivedisplay 212 when the application is active or executing. In someembodiments, device/global internal state 257 is used by event sorter270 to determine which application(s) is (are) currently active, andapplication internal state 292 is used by event sorter 270 to determineapplication views 291 to which to deliver event information.

In some embodiments, application internal state 292 includes additionalinformation, such as one or more of: resume information to be used whenapplication 236-1 resumes execution, user interface state informationthat indicates information being displayed or that is ready for displayby application 236-1, a state queue for enabling the user to go back toa prior state or view of application 236-1, and a redo/undo queue ofprevious actions taken by the user.

Event monitor 271 receives event information from peripherals interface218. Event information includes information about a sub-event (e.g., auser touch on touch-sensitive display 212, as part of a multi-touchgesture). Peripherals interface 218 transmits information it receivesfrom I/O subsystem 206 or a sensor, such as proximity sensor 266,accelerometer(s) 268, and/or microphone 213 (through audio circuitry210). Information that peripherals interface 218 receives from I/Osubsystem 206 includes information from touch-sensitive display 212 or atouch-sensitive surface.

In some embodiments, event monitor 271 sends requests to the peripheralsinterface 218 at predetermined intervals. In response, peripheralsinterface 218 transmits event information. In other embodiments,peripherals interface 218 transmits event information only when there isa significant event (e.g., receiving an input above a predeterminednoise threshold and/or for more than a predetermined duration).

In some embodiments, event sorter 270 also includes a hit viewdetermination module 272 and/or an active event recognizer determinationmodule 273.

Hit view determination module 272 provides software procedures fordetermining where a sub-event has taken place within one or more viewswhen touch-sensitive display 212 displays more than one view. Views aremade up of controls and other elements that a user can see on thedisplay.

Another aspect of the user interface associated with an application is aset of views, sometimes herein called application views or userinterface windows, in which information is displayed and touch-basedgestures occur. The application views (of a respective application) inwhich a touch is detected correspond to programmatic levels within aprogrammatic or view hierarchy of the application. For example, thelowest level view in which a touch is detected is called the hit view,and the set of events that are recognized as proper inputs is determinedbased, at least in part, on the hit view of the initial touch thatbegins a touch-based gesture.

Hit view determination module 272 receives information related to subevents of a touch-based gesture. When an application has multiple viewsorganized in a hierarchy, hit view determination module 272 identifies ahit view as the lowest view in the hierarchy which should handle thesub-event. In most circumstances, the hit view is the lowest level viewin which an initiating sub-event occurs (e.g., the first sub-event inthe sequence of sub-events that form an event or potential event). Oncethe hit view is identified by the hit view determination module 272, thehit view typically receives all sub-events related to the same touch orinput source for which it was identified as the hit view.

Active event recognizer determination module 273 determines which viewor views within a view hierarchy should receive a particular sequence ofsub-events. In some embodiments, active event recognizer determinationmodule 273 determines that only the hit view should receive a particularsequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, active event recognizerdetermination module 273 determines that all views that include thephysical location of a sub-event are actively involved views, andtherefore determines that all actively involved views should receive aparticular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, even if touchsub-events were entirely confined to the area associated with oneparticular view, views higher in the hierarchy would still remain asactively involved views.

Event dispatcher module 274 dispatches the event information to an eventrecognizer (e.g., event recognizer 280). In embodiments including activeevent recognizer determination module 273, event dispatcher module 274delivers the event information to an event recognizer determined byactive event recognizer determination module 273. In some embodiments,event dispatcher module 274 stores in an event queue the eventinformation, which is retrieved by a respective event receiver 282.

In some embodiments, operating system 226 includes event sorter 270.Alternatively, application 236-1 includes event sorter 270. In yet otherembodiments, event sorter 270 is a stand-alone module, or a part ofanother module stored in memory 202, such as contact/motion module 230.

In some embodiments, application 236-1 includes a plurality of eventhandlers 290 and one or more application views 291, each of whichincludes instructions for handling touch events that occur within arespective view of the application's user interface. Each applicationview 291 of the application 236-1 includes one or more event recognizers280. Typically, a respective application view 291 includes a pluralityof event recognizers 280. In other embodiments, one or more of eventrecognizers 280 are part of a separate module, such as a user interfacekit (not shown) or a higher level object from which application 236-1inherits methods and other properties. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent handler 290 includes one or more of: data updater 276, objectupdater 277, GUI updater 278, and/or event data 279 received from eventsorter 270. Event handler 290 utilizes or calls data updater 276, objectupdater 277, or GUI updater 278 to update the application internal state292. Alternatively, one or more of the application views 291 include oneor more respective event handlers 290. Also, in some embodiments, one ormore of data updater 276, object updater 277, and GUI updater 278 areincluded in a respective application view 291.

A respective event recognizer 280 receives event information (e.g.,event data 279) from event sorter 270 and identifies an event from theevent information. Event recognizer 280 includes event receiver 282 andevent comparator 284. In some embodiments, event recognizer 280 alsoincludes at least a subset of: metadata 283, and event deliveryinstructions 288 (which include sub-event delivery instructions).

Event receiver 282 receives event information from event sorter 270. Theevent information includes information about a sub-event, for example, atouch or a touch movement. Depending on the sub-event, the eventinformation also includes additional information, such as location ofthe sub-event. When the sub-event concerns motion of a touch, the eventinformation also includes speed and direction of the sub-event. In someembodiments, events include rotation of the device from one orientationto another (e.g., from a portrait orientation to a landscapeorientation, or vice versa), and the event information includescorresponding information about the current orientation (also calleddevice attitude) of the device.

Event comparator 284 compares the event information to predefined eventor sub-event definitions and, based on the comparison, determines anevent or sub event, or determines or updates the state of an event orsub-event. In some embodiments, event comparator 284 includes eventdefinitions 286. Event definitions 286 contain definitions of events(e.g., predefined sequences of sub-events), for example, event 1(287-1), event 2 (287-2), and others. In some embodiments, sub-events inan event (287) include, for example, touch begin, touch end, touchmovement, touch cancellation, and multiple touching. In one example, thedefinition for event 1 (287-1) is a double tap on a displayed object.The double tap, for example, comprises a first touch (touch begin) onthe displayed object for a predetermined phase, a first liftoff (touchend) for a predetermined phase, a second touch (touch begin) on thedisplayed object for a predetermined phase, and a second liftoff (touchend) for a predetermined phase. In another example, the definition forevent 2 (287-2) is a dragging on a displayed object. The dragging, forexample, comprises a touch (or contact) on the displayed object for apredetermined phase, a movement of the touch across touch-sensitivedisplay 212, and liftoff of the touch (touch end). In some embodiments,the event also includes information for one or more associated eventhandlers 290.

In some embodiments, event definition 287 includes a definition of anevent for a respective user-interface object. In some embodiments, eventcomparator 284 performs a hit test to determine which user-interfaceobject is associated with a sub-event. For example, in an applicationview in which three user-interface objects are displayed ontouch-sensitive display 212, when a touch is detected on touch-sensitivedisplay 212, event comparator 284 performs a hit test to determine whichof the three user-interface objects is associated with the touch(sub-event). If each displayed object is associated with a respectiveevent handler 290, the event comparator uses the result of the hit testto determine which event handler 290 should be activated. For example,event comparator 284 selects an event handler associated with thesub-event and the object triggering the hit test.

In some embodiments, the definition for a respective event (287) alsoincludes delayed actions that delay delivery of the event informationuntil after it has been determined whether the sequence of sub-eventsdoes or does not correspond to the event recognizer's event type.

When a respective event recognizer 280 determines that the series ofsub-events do not match any of the events in event definitions 286, therespective event recognizer 280 enters an event impossible, eventfailed, or event ended state, after which it disregards subsequentsub-events of the touch-based gesture. In this situation, other eventrecognizers, if any, that remain active for the hit view continue totrack and process sub-events of an ongoing touch-based gesture.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 280 includes metadata283 with configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate howthe event delivery system should perform sub-event delivery to activelyinvolved event recognizers. In some embodiments, metadata 283 includesconfigurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how eventrecognizers interact, or are enabled to interact, with one another. Insome embodiments, metadata 283 includes configurable properties, flags,and/or lists that indicate whether sub-events are delivered to varyinglevels in the view or programmatic hierarchy.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 280 activates eventhandler 290 associated with an event when one or more particularsub-events of an event are recognized. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent recognizer 280 delivers event information associated with theevent to event handler 290. Activating an event handler 290 is distinctfrom sending (and deferred sending) sub-events to a respective hit view.In some embodiments, event recognizer 280 throws a flag associated withthe recognized event, and event handler 290 associated with the flagcatches the flag and performs a predefined process.

In some embodiments, event delivery instructions 288 include sub-eventdelivery instructions that deliver event information about a sub-eventwithout activating an event handler. Instead, the sub-event deliveryinstructions deliver event information to event handlers associated withthe series of sub-events or to actively involved views. Event handlersassociated with the series of sub-events or with actively involved viewsreceive the event information and perform a predetermined process.

In some embodiments, data updater 276 creates and updates data used inapplication 236-1. For example, data updater 276 updates the telephonenumber used in contacts module 237, or stores a video file used in videoplayer module. In some embodiments, object updater 277 creates andupdates objects used in application 236-1. For example, object updater277 creates a new user-interface object or updates the position of auser-interface object. GUI updater 278 updates the GUI. For example, GUIupdater 278 prepares display information and sends it to graphics module232 for display on a touch-sensitive display.

In some embodiments, event handler(s) 290 includes or has access to dataupdater 276, object updater 277, and GUI updater 278. In someembodiments, data updater 276, object updater 277, and GUI updater 278are included in a single module of a respective application 236-1 orapplication view 291. In other embodiments, they are included in two ormore software modules.

It shall be understood that the foregoing discussion regarding eventhandling of user touches on touch-sensitive displays also applies toother forms of user inputs to operate multifunction devices 200 withinput devices, not all of which are initiated on touch screens. Forexample, mouse movement and mouse button presses, optionally coordinatedwith single or multiple keyboard presses or holds; contact movementssuch as taps, drags, scrolls, etc. on touchpads; pen stylus inputs;movement of the device; oral instructions; detected eye movements;biometric inputs; and/or any combination thereof are optionally utilizedas inputs corresponding to sub-events which define an event to berecognized.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portable multifunction device 200 having a touchscreen 212 in accordance with some embodiments. The touch screenoptionally displays one or more graphics within user interface (UI) 300.In this embodiment, as well as others described below, a user is enabledto select one or more of the graphics by making a gesture on thegraphics, for example, with one or more fingers 302 (not drawn to scalein the figure) or one or more styluses 303 (not drawn to scale in thefigure). In some embodiments, selection of one or more graphics occurswhen the user breaks contact with the one or more graphics. In someembodiments, the gesture optionally includes one or more taps, one ormore swipes (from left to right, right to left, upward and/or downward),and/or a rolling of a finger (from right to left, left to right, upwardand/or downward) that has made contact with device 200. In someimplementations or circumstances, inadvertent contact with a graphicdoes not select the graphic. For example, a swipe gesture that sweepsover an application icon optionally does not select the correspondingapplication when the gesture corresponding to selection is a tap.

Device 200 also includes one or more physical buttons, such as “home” ormenu button 304. As described previously, menu button 304 is used tonavigate to any application 236 in a set of applications that isexecuted on device 200. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menubutton is implemented as a soft key in a GUI displayed on touch screen212.

In one embodiment, device 200 includes touch screen 212, menu button304, push button 306 for powering the device on/off and locking thedevice, volume adjustment button(s) 308, subscriber identity module(SIM) card slot 310, headset jack 312, and docking/charging externalport 224. Push button 306 is, optionally, used to turn the power on/offon the device by depressing the button and holding the button in thedepressed state for a predefined time interval; to lock the device bydepressing the button and releasing the button before the predefinedtime interval has elapsed; and/or to unlock the device or initiate anunlock process. In an alternative embodiment, device 200 also acceptsverbal input for activation or deactivation of some functions throughmicrophone 213. Device 200 also, optionally, includes one or morecontact intensity sensors 265 for detecting intensity of contacts ontouch screen 212 and/or one or more tactile output generators 267 forgenerating tactile outputs for a user of device 200.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments. Device 400 need not be portable. In some embodiments,device 400 is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer,a multimedia player device, a navigation device, an educational device(such as a child's learning toy), a gaming system, or a control device(e.g., a home or industrial controller). Device 400 typically includesone or more processing units (CPUs) 410, one or more network or othercommunications interfaces 460, memory 470, and one or more communicationbuses 420 for interconnecting these components. Communication buses 420optionally include circuitry (sometimes called a chipset) thatinterconnects and controls communications between system components.Device 400 includes input/output (I/O) interface 430 comprising display440, which is typically a touch screen display. I/O interface 430 alsooptionally includes a keyboard and/or mouse (or other pointing device)450 and touchpad 455, tactile output generator 457 for generatingtactile outputs on device 400 (e.g., similar to tactile outputgenerator(s) 267 described above with reference to FIG. 2A), sensors 459(e.g., optical, acceleration, proximity, touch-sensitive, and/or contactintensity sensors similar to contact intensity sensor(s) 265 describedabove with reference to FIG. 2A). Memory 470 includes high-speed randomaccess memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other random access solidstate memory devices; and optionally includes non-volatile memory, suchas one or more magnetic disk storage devices, optical disk storagedevices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid state storagedevices. Memory 470 optionally includes one or more storage devicesremotely located from CPU(s) 410. In some embodiments, memory 470 storesprograms, modules, and data structures analogous to the programs,modules, and data structures stored in memory 202 of portablemultifunction device 200 (FIG. 2A), or a subset thereof. Furthermore,memory 470 optionally stores additional programs, modules, and datastructures not present in memory 202 of portable multifunction device200. For example, memory 470 of device 400 optionally stores drawingmodule 480, presentation module 482, word processing module 484, websitecreation module 486, disk authoring module 488, and/or spreadsheetmodule 490, while memory 202 of portable multifunction device 200 (FIG.2A) optionally does not store these modules.

Each of the above-identified elements in FIG. 4 is, in some examples,stored in one or more of the previously mentioned memory devices. Eachof the above-identified modules corresponds to a set of instructions forperforming a function described above. The above-identified modules orprograms (e.g., sets of instructions) need not be implemented asseparate software programs, procedures, or modules, and thus varioussubsets of these modules are combined or otherwise rearranged in variousembodiments. In some embodiments, memory 470 stores a subset of themodules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory 470stores additional modules and data structures not described above.

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces thatcan be implemented on, for example, portable multifunction device 200.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary user interface for a menu ofapplications on portable multifunction device 200 in accordance withsome embodiments. Similar user interfaces are implemented on device 400.In some embodiments, user interface 500 includes the following elements,or a subset or superset thereof:

Signal strength indicator(s) 502 for wireless communication(s), such ascellular and Wi-Fi signals;

-   -   Time 504;    -   Bluetooth indicator 505;    -   Battery status indicator 506;    -   Tray 508 with icons for frequently used applications, such as:        -   Icon 516 for telephone module 238, labeled “Phone,” which            optionally includes an indicator 514 of the number of missed            calls or voicemail messages;        -   Icon 518 for e-mail client module 240, labeled “Mail,” which            optionally includes an indicator 510 of the number of unread            e-mails;        -   Icon 520 for browser module 247, labeled “Browser;” and        -   Icon 522 for video and music player module 252, also            referred to as iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.) module 252,            labeled “iPod;” and    -   Icons for other applications, such as:        -   Icon 524 for IM module 241, labeled “Messages;”        -   Icon 526 for calendar module 248, labeled “Calendar;”        -   Icon 528 for image management module 244, labeled “Photos;”        -   Icon 530 for camera module 243, labeled “Camera;”        -   Icon 532 for online video module 255, labeled “Online            Video;”        -   Icon 534 for stocks widget 249-2, labeled “Stocks;”        -   Icon 536 for map module 254, labeled “Maps;”        -   Icon 538 for weather widget 249-1, labeled “Weather;”        -   Icon 540 for alarm clock widget 249-4, labeled “Clock;”        -   Icon 542 for workout support module 242, labeled “Workout            Support;”        -   Icon 544 for notes module 253, labeled “Notes;” and        -   Icon 546 for a settings application or module, labeled            “Settings,” which provides access to settings for device 200            and its various applications 236.

It should be noted that the icon labels illustrated in FIG. 5A aremerely exemplary. For example, icon 522 for video and music playermodule 252 is optionally labeled “Music” or “Music Player.” Other labelsare, optionally, used for various application icons. In someembodiments, a label for a respective application icon includes a nameof an application corresponding to the respective application icon. Insome embodiments, a label for a particular application icon is distinctfrom a name of an application corresponding to the particularapplication icon.

FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary user interface on a device (e.g.,device 400, FIG. 4) with a touch-sensitive surface 551 (e.g., a tabletor touchpad 455, FIG. 4) that is separate from the display 550 (e.g.,touch screen display 212). Device 400 also, optionally, includes one ormore contact intensity sensors (e.g., one or more of sensors 457) fordetecting intensity of contacts on touch-sensitive surface 551 and/orone or more tactile output generators 459 for generating tactile outputsfor a user of device 400.

Although some of the examples which follow will be given with referenceto inputs on touch screen display 212 (where the touch-sensitive surfaceand the display are combined), in some embodiments, the device detectsinputs on a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the display,as shown in FIG. 5B. In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive surface(e.g., 551 in FIG. 5B) has a primary axis (e.g., 552 in FIG. 5B) thatcorresponds to a primary axis (e.g., 553 in FIG. 5B) on the display(e.g., 550). In accordance with these embodiments, the device detectscontacts (e.g., 560 and 562 in FIG. 5B) with the touch-sensitive surface551 at locations that correspond to respective locations on the display(e.g., in FIG. 5B, 560 corresponds to 568 and 562 corresponds to 570).In this way, user inputs (e.g., contacts 560 and 562, and movementsthereof) detected by the device on the touch-sensitive surface (e.g.,551 in FIG. 5B) are used by the device to manipulate the user interfaceon the display (e.g., 550 in FIG. 5B) of the multifunction device whenthe touch-sensitive surface is separate from the display. It should beunderstood that similar methods are, optionally, used for other userinterfaces described herein.

Additionally, while the following examples are given primarily withreference to finger inputs (e.g., finger contacts, finger tap gestures,finger swipe gestures), it should be understood that, in someembodiments, one or more of the finger inputs are replaced with inputfrom another input device (e.g., a mouse-based input or stylus input).For example, a swipe gesture is, optionally, replaced with a mouse click(e.g., instead of a contact) followed by movement of the cursor alongthe path of the swipe (e.g., instead of movement of the contact). Asanother example, a tap gesture is, optionally, replaced with a mouseclick while the cursor is located over the location of the tap gesture(e.g., instead of detection of the contact followed by ceasing to detectthe contact). Similarly, when multiple user inputs are simultaneouslydetected, it should be understood that multiple computer mice are,optionally, used simultaneously, or a mouse and finger contacts are,optionally, used simultaneously.

FIG. 6A illustrates exemplary personal electronic device 600. Device 600includes body 602. In some embodiments, device 600 includes some or allof the features described with respect to devices 200 and 400 (e.g.,FIGS. 2A-4B). In some embodiments, device 600 has touch-sensitivedisplay screen 604, hereafter touch screen 604. Alternatively, or inaddition to touch screen 604, device 600 has a display and atouch-sensitive surface. As with devices 200 and 400, in someembodiments, touch screen 604 (or the touch-sensitive surface) has oneor more intensity sensors for detecting intensity of contacts (e.g.,touches) being applied. The one or more intensity sensors of touchscreen 604 (or the touch-sensitive surface) provide output data thatrepresents the intensity of touches. The user interface of device 600responds to touches based on their intensity, meaning that touches ofdifferent intensities can invoke different user interface operations ondevice 600.

Techniques for detecting and processing touch intensity are found, forexample, in related applications: International Patent ApplicationSerial No. PCT/US2013/040061, titled “Device, Method, and Graphical UserInterface for Displaying User Interface Objects Corresponding to anApplication,” filed May 8, 2013, and International Patent ApplicationSerial No. PCT/US2013/069483, titled “Device, Method, and Graphical UserInterface for Transitioning Between Touch Input to Display OutputRelationships,” filed Nov. 11, 2013, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

In some embodiments, device 600 has one or more input mechanisms 606 and608. Input mechanisms 606 and 608, if included, are physical. Examplesof physical input mechanisms include push buttons and rotatablemechanisms. In some embodiments, device 600 has one or more attachmentmechanisms. Such attachment mechanisms, if included, can permitattachment of device 600 with, for example, hats, eyewear, earrings,necklaces, shirts, jackets, bracelets, watch straps, chains, trousers,belts, shoes, purses, backpacks, and so forth. These attachmentmechanisms permit device 600 to be worn by a user.

FIG. 6B depicts exemplary personal electronic device 600. In someembodiments, device 600 includes some or all of the components describedwith respect to FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 4. Device 600 has bus 612 thatoperatively couples I/O section 614 with one or more computer processors616 and memory 618. I/O section 614 is connected to display 604, whichcan have touch-sensitive component 622 and, optionally, touch-intensitysensitive component 624. In addition, I/O section 614 is connected withcommunication unit 630 for receiving application and operating systemdata, using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), cellular,and/or other wireless communication techniques. Device 600 includesinput mechanisms 606 and/or 608. Input mechanism 606 is a rotatableinput device or a depressible and rotatable input device, for example.Input mechanism 608 is a button, in some examples.

Input mechanism 608 is a microphone, in some examples. Personalelectronic device 600 includes, for example, various sensors, such asGPS sensor 632, accelerometer 634, directional sensor 640 (e.g.,compass), gyroscope 636, motion sensor 638, and/or a combinationthereof, all of which are operatively connected to I/O section 614.

Memory 618 of personal electronic device 600 is a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium, for storing computer-executableinstructions, which, when executed by one or more computer processors616, for example, cause the computer processors to perform thetechniques and processes described below. The computer-executableinstructions, for example, are also stored and/or transported within anynon-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device,such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or othersystem that can fetch the instructions from the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. Personalelectronic device 600 is not limited to the components and configurationof FIG. 6B, but can include other or additional components in multipleconfigurations.

As used here, the term “affordance” refers to a user-interactivegraphical user interface object that is, for example, displayed on thedisplay screen of devices 200, 400, and/or 600 (FIGS. 2, 4, and 6). Forexample, an image (e.g., icon), a button, and text (e.g., hyperlink)each constitutes an affordance.

As used herein, the term “focus selector” refers to an input elementthat indicates a current part of a user interface with which a user isinteracting. In some implementations that include a cursor or otherlocation marker, the cursor acts as a “focus selector” so that when aninput (e.g., a press input) is detected on a touch-sensitive surface(e.g., touchpad 455 in FIG. 4 or touch-sensitive surface 551 in FIG. 5B)while the cursor is over a particular user interface element (e.g., abutton, window, slider or other user interface element), the particularuser interface element is adjusted in accordance with the detectedinput. In some implementations that include a touch screen display(e.g., touch-sensitive display system 212 in FIG. 2A or touch screen 212in FIG. 5A) that enables direct interaction with user interface elementson the touch screen display, a detected contact on the touch screen actsas a “focus selector” so that when an input (e.g., a press input by thecontact) is detected on the touch screen display at a location of aparticular user interface element (e.g., a button, window, slider, orother user interface element), the particular user interface element isadjusted in accordance with the detected input. In some implementations,focus is moved from one region of a user interface to another region ofthe user interface without corresponding movement of a cursor ormovement of a contact on a touch screen display (e.g., by using a tabkey or arrow keys to move focus from one button to another button); inthese implementations, the focus selector moves in accordance withmovement of focus between different regions of the user interface.Without regard to the specific form taken by the focus selector, thefocus selector is generally the user interface element (or contact on atouch screen display) that is controlled by the user so as tocommunicate the user's intended interaction with the user interface(e.g., by indicating, to the device, the element of the user interfacewith which the user is intending to interact). For example, the locationof a focus selector (e.g., a cursor, a contact, or a selection box) overa respective button while a press input is detected on thetouch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touchpad or touch screen) will indicatethat the user is intending to activate the respective button (as opposedto other user interface elements shown on a display of the device).

As used in the specification and claims, the term “characteristicintensity” of a contact refers to a characteristic of the contact basedon one or more intensities of the contact. In some embodiments, thecharacteristic intensity is based on multiple intensity samples. Thecharacteristic intensity is, optionally, based on a predefined number ofintensity samples, or a set of intensity samples collected during apredetermined time period (e.g., 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10seconds) relative to a predefined event (e.g., after detecting thecontact, prior to detecting liftoff of the contact, before or afterdetecting a start of movement of the contact, prior to detecting an endof the contact, before or after detecting an increase in intensity ofthe contact, and/or before or after detecting a decrease in intensity ofthe contact). A characteristic intensity of a contact is, optionallybased on one or more of: a maximum value of the intensities of thecontact, a mean value of the intensities of the contact, an averagevalue of the intensities of the contact, a top 10 percentile value ofthe intensities of the contact, a value at the half maximum of theintensities of the contact, a value at the 90 percent maximum of theintensities of the contact, or the like. In some embodiments, theduration of the contact is used in determining the characteristicintensity (e.g., when the characteristic intensity is an average of theintensity of the contact over time). In some embodiments, thecharacteristic intensity is compared to a set of one or more intensitythresholds to determine whether an operation has been performed by auser. For example, the set of one or more intensity thresholds includesa first intensity threshold and a second intensity threshold. In thisexample, a contact with a characteristic intensity that does not exceedthe first threshold results in a first operation, a contact with acharacteristic intensity that exceeds the first intensity threshold anddoes not exceed the second intensity threshold results in a secondoperation, and a contact with a characteristic intensity that exceedsthe second threshold results in a third operation. In some embodiments,a comparison between the characteristic intensity and one or morethresholds is used to determine whether or not to perform one or moreoperations (e.g., whether to perform a respective operation or forgoperforming the respective operation) rather than being used to determinewhether to perform a first operation or a second operation.

In some embodiments, a portion of a gesture is identified for purposesof determining a characteristic intensity. For example, atouch-sensitive surface receives a continuous swipe contacttransitioning from a start location and reaching an end location, atwhich point the intensity of the contact increases. In this example, thecharacteristic intensity of the contact at the end location is based ononly a portion of the continuous swipe contact, and not the entire swipecontact (e.g., only the portion of the swipe contact at the endlocation). In some embodiments, a smoothing algorithm is applied to theintensities of the swipe contact prior to determining the characteristicintensity of the contact. For example, the smoothing algorithmoptionally includes one or more of: an unweighted sliding-averagesmoothing algorithm, a triangular smoothing algorithm, a median filtersmoothing algorithm, and/or an exponential smoothing algorithm. In somecircumstances, these smoothing algorithms eliminate narrow spikes ordips in the intensities of the swipe contact for purposes of determininga characteristic intensity.

The intensity of a contact on the touch-sensitive surface ischaracterized relative to one or more intensity thresholds, such as acontact-detection intensity threshold, a light press intensitythreshold, a deep press intensity threshold, and/or one or more otherintensity thresholds. In some embodiments, the light press intensitythreshold corresponds to an intensity at which the device will performoperations typically associated with clicking a button of a physicalmouse or a trackpad. In some embodiments, the deep press intensitythreshold corresponds to an intensity at which the device will performoperations that are different from operations typically associated withclicking a button of a physical mouse or a trackpad. In someembodiments, when a contact is detected with a characteristic intensitybelow the light press intensity threshold (e.g., and above a nominalcontact-detection intensity threshold below which the contact is nolonger detected), the device will move a focus selector in accordancewith movement of the contact on the touch-sensitive surface withoutperforming an operation associated with the light press intensitythreshold or the deep press intensity threshold. Generally, unlessotherwise stated, these intensity thresholds are consistent betweendifferent sets of user interface figures.

An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensitybelow the light press intensity threshold to an intensity between thelight press intensity threshold and the deep press intensity thresholdis sometimes referred to as a “light press” input. An increase ofcharacteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the deeppress intensity threshold to an intensity above the deep press intensitythreshold is sometimes referred to as a “deep press” input. An increaseof characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below thecontact-detection intensity threshold to an intensity between thecontact-detection intensity threshold and the light press intensitythreshold is sometimes referred to as detecting the contact on thetouch-surface. A decrease of characteristic intensity of the contactfrom an intensity above the contact-detection intensity threshold to anintensity below the contact-detection intensity threshold is sometimesreferred to as detecting liftoff of the contact from the touch-surface.In some embodiments, the contact-detection intensity threshold is zero.In some embodiments, the contact-detection intensity threshold isgreater than zero.

In some embodiments described herein, one or more operations areperformed in response to detecting a gesture that includes a respectivepress input or in response to detecting the respective press inputperformed with a respective contact (or a plurality of contacts), wherethe respective press input is detected based at least in part ondetecting an increase in intensity of the contact (or plurality ofcontacts) above a press-input intensity threshold. In some embodiments,the respective operation is performed in response to detecting theincrease in intensity of the respective contact above the press-inputintensity threshold (e.g., a “down stroke” of the respective pressinput). In some embodiments, the press input includes an increase inintensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensitythreshold and a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact belowthe press-input intensity threshold, and the respective operation isperformed in response to detecting the subsequent decrease in intensityof the respective contact below the press-input threshold (e.g., an “upstroke” of the respective press input).

In some embodiments, the device employs intensity hysteresis to avoidaccidental inputs sometimes termed “jitter,” where the device defines orselects a hysteresis intensity threshold with a predefined relationshipto the press-input intensity threshold (e.g., the hysteresis intensitythreshold is X intensity units lower than the press-input intensitythreshold or the hysteresis intensity threshold is 75%, 90%, or somereasonable proportion of the press-input intensity threshold). Thus, insome embodiments, the press input includes an increase in intensity ofthe respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold and asubsequent decrease in intensity of the contact below the hysteresisintensity threshold that corresponds to the press-input intensitythreshold, and the respective operation is performed in response todetecting the subsequent decrease in intensity of the respective contactbelow the hysteresis intensity threshold (e.g., an “up stroke” of therespective press input). Similarly, in some embodiments, the press inputis detected only when the device detects an increase in intensity of thecontact from an intensity at or below the hysteresis intensity thresholdto an intensity at or above the press-input intensity threshold and,optionally, a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact to anintensity at or below the hysteresis intensity, and the respectiveoperation is performed in response to detecting the press input (e.g.,the increase in intensity of the contact or the decrease in intensity ofthe contact, depending on the circumstances).

For ease of explanation, the descriptions of operations performed inresponse to a press input associated with a press-input intensitythreshold or in response to a gesture including the press input are,optionally, triggered in response to detecting either: an increase inintensity of a contact above the press-input intensity threshold, anincrease in intensity of a contact from an intensity below thehysteresis intensity threshold to an intensity above the press-inputintensity threshold, a decrease in intensity of the contact below thepress-input intensity threshold, and/or a decrease in intensity of thecontact below the hysteresis intensity threshold corresponding to thepress-input intensity threshold. Additionally, in examples where anoperation is described as being performed in response to detecting adecrease in intensity of a contact below the press-input intensitythreshold, the operation is, optionally, performed in response todetecting a decrease in intensity of the contact below a hysteresisintensity threshold corresponding to, and lower than, the press-inputintensity threshold.

3. Digital Assistant System

FIG. 7A illustrates a block diagram of digital assistant system 700 inaccordance with various examples. In some examples, digital assistantsystem 700 is implemented on a standalone computer system. In someexamples, digital assistant system 700 is distributed across multiplecomputers. In some examples, some of the modules and functions of thedigital assistant are divided into a server portion and a clientportion, where the client portion resides on one or more user devices(e.g., devices 104, 122, 200, 400, or 600) and communicates with theserver portion (e.g., server system 108) through one or more networks,e.g., as shown in FIG. 1. In some examples, digital assistant system 700is an implementation of server system 108 (and/or DA server 106) shownin FIG. 1. It should be noted that digital assistant system 700 is onlyone example of a digital assistant system, and that digital assistantsystem 700 can have more or fewer components than shown, can combine twoor more components, or can have a different configuration or arrangementof the components. The various components shown in FIG. 7A areimplemented in hardware, software instructions for execution by one ormore processors, firmware, including one or more signal processingand/or application specific integrated circuits, or a combinationthereof.

Digital assistant system 700 includes memory 702, one or more processors704, input/output (I/O) interface 706, and network communicationsinterface 708. These components can communicate with one another overone or more communication buses or signal lines 710.

In some examples, memory 702 includes a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, such as high-speed random access memory and/or a non-volatilecomputer-readable storage medium (e.g., one or more magnetic diskstorage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-statememory devices).

In some examples, I/O interface 706 couples input/output devices 716 ofdigital assistant system 700, such as displays, keyboards, touchscreens, and microphones, to user interface module 722. I/O interface706, in conjunction with user interface module 722, receives user inputs(e.g., voice input, keyboard inputs, touch inputs, etc.) and processesthem accordingly. In some examples, e.g., when the digital assistant isimplemented on a standalone user device, digital assistant system 700includes any of the components and I/O communication interfacesdescribed with respect to devices 200, 400, or 600 in FIGS. 2A, 4, 6A-B,respectively. In some examples, digital assistant system 700 representsthe server portion of a digital assistant implementation, and caninteract with the user through a client-side portion residing on a userdevice (e.g., devices 104, 200, 400, or 600).

In some examples, the network communications interface 708 includeswired communication port(s) 712 and/or wireless transmission andreception circuitry 714. The wired communication port(s) receives andsend communication signals via one or more wired interfaces, e.g.,Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, etc. The wirelesscircuitry 714 receives and sends RF signals and/or optical signalsfrom/to communications networks and other communications devices. Thewireless communications use any of a plurality of communicationsstandards, protocols, and technologies, such as GSM, EDGE, CDMA, TDMA,Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, VoIP, Wi-MAX, or any other suitable communicationprotocol. Network communications interface 708 enables communicationbetween digital assistant system 700 with networks, such as theInternet, an intranet, and/or a wireless network, such as a cellulartelephone network, a wireless local area network (LAN), and/or ametropolitan area network (MAN), and other devices.

In some examples, memory 702, or the computer-readable storage media ofmemory 702, stores programs, modules, instructions, and data structuresincluding all or a subset of: operating system 718, communicationsmodule 720, user interface module 722, one or more applications 724, anddigital assistant module 726. In particular, memory 702, or thecomputer-readable storage media of memory 702, stores instructions forperforming the processes described below. One or more processors 704execute these programs, modules, and instructions, and reads/writesfrom/to the data structures.

Operating system 718 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, iOS, OS X,WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includesvarious software components and/or drivers for controlling and managinggeneral system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control,power management, etc.) and facilitates communications between varioushardware, firmware, and software components.

Communications module 720 facilitates communications between digitalassistant system 700 with other devices over network communicationsinterface 708. For example, communications module 720 communicates withRF circuitry 208 of electronic devices such as devices 200, 400, and 600shown in FIG. 2A, 4, 6A-B, respectively. Communications module 720 alsoincludes various components for handling data received by wirelesscircuitry 714 and/or wired communications port 712.

User interface module 722 receives commands and/or inputs from a uservia I/O interface 706 (e.g., from a keyboard, touch screen, pointingdevice, controller, and/or microphone), and generate user interfaceobjects on a display. User interface module 722 also prepares anddelivers outputs (e.g., speech, sound, animation, text, icons,vibrations, haptic feedback, light, etc.) to the user via the I/Ointerface 706 (e.g., through displays, audio channels, speakers,touch-pads, etc.).

Applications 724 include programs and/or modules that are configured tobe executed by one or more processors 704. For example, if the digitalassistant system is implemented on a standalone user device,applications 724 include user applications, such as games, a calendarapplication, a navigation application, or an email application. Ifdigital assistant system 700 is implemented on a server, applications724 include resource management applications, diagnostic applications,or scheduling applications, for example.

Memory 702 also stores digital assistant module 726 (or the serverportion of a digital assistant). In some examples, digital assistantmodule 726 includes the following sub-modules, or a subset or supersetthereof: input/output processing module 728, speech-to-text (STT)processing module 730, natural language processing module 732, dialogueflow processing module 734, task flow processing module 736, serviceprocessing module 738, and speech synthesis module 740. Each of thesemodules has access to one or more of the following systems or data andmodels of the digital assistant module 726, or a subset or supersetthereof: ontology 760, vocabulary index 744, user data 748, task flowmodels 754, service models 756, and ASR systems 758.

In some examples, using the processing modules, data, and modelsimplemented in digital assistant module 726, the digital assistant canperform at least some of the following: converting speech input intotext; identifying a user's intent expressed in a natural language inputreceived from the user; actively eliciting and obtaining informationneeded to fully infer the user's intent (e.g., by disambiguating words,games, intentions, etc.); determining the task flow for fulfilling theinferred intent; and executing the task flow to fulfill the inferredintent.

In some examples, as shown in FIG. 7B, I/O processing module 728interacts with the user through I/O devices 716 in FIG. 7A or with auser device (e.g., devices 104, 200, 400, or 600) through networkcommunications interface 708 in FIG. 7A to obtain user input (e.g., aspeech input) and to provide responses (e.g., as speech outputs) to theuser input. I/O processing module 728 optionally obtains contextualinformation associated with the user input from the user device, alongwith or shortly after the receipt of the user input. The contextualinformation includes user-specific data, vocabulary, and/or preferencesrelevant to the user input. In some examples, the contextual informationalso includes software and hardware states of the user device at thetime the user request is received, and/or information related to thesurrounding environment of the user at the time that the user requestwas received. In some examples, I/O processing module 728 also sendsfollow-up questions to, and receives answers from, the user regardingthe user request. When a user request is received by I/O processingmodule 728 and the user request includes speech input, I/O processingmodule 728 forwards the speech input to STT processing module 730 (orspeech recognizer) for speech-to-text conversions.

STT processing module 730 includes one or more ASR systems 758. The oneor more ASR systems 758 can process the speech input that is receivedthrough I/O processing module 728 to produce a recognition result. EachASR system 758 includes a front-end speech pre-processor. The front-endspeech pre-processor extracts representative features from the speechinput. For example, the front-end speech pre-processor performs aFourier transform on the speech input to extract spectral features thatcharacterize the speech input as a sequence of representativemulti-dimensional vectors. Further, each ASR system 758 includes one ormore speech recognition models (e.g., acoustic models and/or languagemodels) and implements one or more speech recognition engines. Examplesof speech recognition models include Hidden Markov Models,Gaussian-Mixture Models, Deep Neural Network Models, n-gram languagemodels, and other statistical models. Examples of speech recognitionengines include the dynamic time warping based engines and weightedfinite-state transducers (WFST) based engines. The one or more speechrecognition models and the one or more speech recognition engines areused to process the extracted representative features of the front-endspeech pre-processor to produce intermediate recognitions results (e.g.,phonemes, phonemic strings, and sub-words), and ultimately, textrecognition results (e.g., words, word strings, or sequence of tokens).In some examples, the speech input is processed at least partially by athird-party service or on the user's device (e.g., device 104, 200, 400,or 600) to produce the recognition result. Once STT processing module730 produces recognition results containing a text string (e.g., words,or sequence of words, or sequence of tokens), the recognition result ispassed to natural language processing module 732 for intent deduction.In some examples, STT processing module 730 produces multiple candidatetext representations of the speech input. Each candidate textrepresentation is a sequence of words or tokens corresponding to thespeech input. In some examples, each candidate text representation isassociated with a speech recognition confidence score. Based on thespeech recognition confidence scores, STT processing module 730 ranksthe candidate text representations and provides the n-best (e.g., nhighest ranked) candidate text representation(s) to natural languageprocessing module 732 for intent deduction, where n is a predeterminedinteger greater than zero. For example, in one example, only the highestranked (n=1) candidate text representation is passed to natural languageprocessing module 732 for intent deduction. In another example, the fivehighest ranked (n=5) candidate text representations are passed tonatural language processing module 732 for intent deduction.

More details on the speech-to-text processing are described in U.S.Utility application Ser. No. 13/236,942 for “Consolidating SpeechRecognition Results,” filed on Sep. 20, 2011, the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

In some examples, STT processing module 730 includes and/or accesses avocabulary of recognizable words via phonetic alphabet conversion module731. Each vocabulary word is associated with one or more candidatepronunciations of the word represented in a speech recognition phoneticalphabet. In particular, the vocabulary of recognizable words includes aword that is associated with a plurality of candidate pronunciations.For example, the vocabulary includes the word “tomato” that isassociated with the candidate pronunciations of /

/ and /

/. Further, vocabulary words are associated with custom candidatepronunciations that are based on previous speech inputs from the user.Such custom candidate pronunciations are stored in STT processing module730 and are associated with a particular user via the user's profile onthe device. In some examples, the candidate pronunciations for words aredetermined based on the spelling of the word and one or more linguisticand/or phonetic rules. In some examples, the candidate pronunciationsare manually generated, e.g., based on known canonical pronunciations.

In some examples, the candidate pronunciations are ranked based on thecommonness of the candidate pronunciation. For example, the candidatepronunciation /

/ is ranked higher than /

/, because the former is a more commonly used pronunciation (e.g., amongall users, for users in a particular geographical region, or for anyother appropriate subset of users). In some examples, candidatepronunciations are ranked based on whether the candidate pronunciationis a custom candidate pronunciation associated with the user. Forexample, custom candidate pronunciations are ranked higher thancanonical candidate pronunciations. This can be useful for recognizingproper nouns having a unique pronunciation that deviates from canonicalpronunciation. In some examples, candidate pronunciations are associatedwith one or more speech characteristics, such as geographic origin,nationality, or ethnicity. For example, the candidate pronunciation /

/ is associated with the United States, whereas the candidatepronunciation /

/ is associated with Great Britain. Further, the rank of the candidatepronunciation is based on one or more characteristics (e.g., geographicorigin, nationality, ethnicity, etc.) of the user stored in the user'sprofile on the device. For example, it can be determined from the user'sprofile that the user is associated with the United States. Based on theuser being associated with the United States, the candidatepronunciation /

/ (associated with the United States) is ranked higher than thecandidate pronunciation /

/ (associated with Great Britain). In some examples, one of the rankedcandidate pronunciations is selected as a predicted pronunciation (e.g.,the most likely pronunciation).

When a speech input is received, STT processing module 730 is used todetermine the phonemes corresponding to the speech input (e.g., using anacoustic model), and then attempt to determine words that match thephonemes (e.g., using a language model). For example, if STT processingmodule 730 first identifies the sequence of phonemes /

/ corresponding to a portion of the speech input, it can then determine,based on vocabulary index 744, that this sequence corresponds to theword “tomato.”

In some examples, STT processing module 730 uses approximate matchingtechniques to determine words in an utterance. Thus, for example, theSTT processing module 730 determines that the sequence of phonemes /

/ corresponds to the word “tomato,” even if that particular sequence ofphonemes is not one of the candidate sequence of phonemes for that word.

Natural language processing module 732 (“natural language processor”) ofthe digital assistant takes the n-best candidate text representation(s)(“word sequence(s)” or “token sequence(s)”) generated by STT processingmodule 730, and attempts to associate each of the candidate textrepresentations with one or more “actionable intents” recognized by thedigital assistant. An “actionable intent” (or “user intent”) representsa task that can be performed by the digital assistant, and can have anassociated task flow implemented in task flow models 754. The associatedtask flow is a series of programmed actions and steps that the digitalassistant takes in order to perform the task. The scope of a digitalassistant's capabilities is dependent on the number and variety of taskflows that have been implemented and stored in task flow models 754, orin other words, on the number and variety of “actionable intents” thatthe digital assistant recognizes. The effectiveness of the digitalassistant, however, also dependents on the assistant's ability to inferthe correct “actionable intent(s)” from the user request expressed innatural language.

In some examples, in addition to the sequence of words or tokensobtained from STT processing module 730, natural language processingmodule 732 also receives contextual information associated with the userrequest, e.g., from I/O processing module 728. The natural languageprocessing module 732 optionally uses the contextual information toclarify, supplement, and/or further define the information contained inthe candidate text representations received from STT processing module730. The contextual information includes, for example, user preferences,hardware, and/or software states of the user device, sensor informationcollected before, during, or shortly after the user request, priorinteractions (e.g., dialogue) between the digital assistant and theuser, and the like. As described herein, contextual information is, insome examples, dynamic, and changes with time, location, content of thedialogue, and other factors.

In some examples, the natural language processing is based on, e.g.,ontology 760. Ontology 760 is a hierarchical structure containing manynodes, each node representing either an “actionable intent” or a“property” relevant to one or more of the “actionable intents” or other“properties.” As noted above, an “actionable intent” represents a taskthat the digital assistant is capable of performing, i.e., it is“actionable” or can be acted on. A “property” represents a parameterassociated with an actionable intent or a sub-aspect of anotherproperty. A linkage between an actionable intent node and a propertynode in ontology 760 defines how a parameter represented by the propertynode pertains to the task represented by the actionable intent node.

In some examples, ontology 760 is made up of actionable intent nodes andproperty nodes. Within ontology 760, each actionable intent node islinked to one or more property nodes either directly or through one ormore intermediate property nodes. Similarly, each property node islinked to one or more actionable intent nodes either directly or throughone or more intermediate property nodes. For example, as shown in FIG.7C, ontology 760 includes a “restaurant reservation” node (i.e., anactionable intent node). Property nodes “restaurant,” “date/time” (forthe reservation), and “party size” are each directly linked to theactionable intent node (i.e., the “restaurant reservation” node).

In addition, property nodes “cuisine,” “price range,” “phone number,”and “location” are sub-nodes of the property node “restaurant,” and areeach linked to the “restaurant reservation” node (i.e., the actionableintent node) through the intermediate property node “restaurant.” Foranother example, as shown in FIG. 7C, ontology 760 also includes a “setreminder” node (i.e., another actionable intent node). Property nodes“date/time” (for setting the reminder) and “subject” (for the reminder)are each linked to the “set reminder” node. Since the property“date/time” is relevant to both the task of making a restaurantreservation and the task of setting a reminder, the property node“date/time” is linked to both the “restaurant reservation” node and the“set reminder” node in ontology 760.

An actionable intent node, along with its linked concept nodes, isdescribed as a “domain.” In the present discussion, each domain isassociated with a respective actionable intent, and refers to the groupof nodes (and the relationships there between) associated with theparticular actionable intent. For example, ontology 760 shown in FIG. 7Cincludes an example of restaurant reservation domain 762 and an exampleof reminder domain 764 within ontology 760. The restaurant reservationdomain includes the actionable intent node “restaurant reservation,”property nodes “restaurant,” “date/time,” and “party size,” andsub-property nodes “cuisine,” “price range,” “phone number,” and“location.” Reminder domain 764 includes the actionable intent node “setreminder,” and property nodes “subject” and “date/time.” In someexamples, ontology 760 is made up of many domains. Each domain sharesone or more property nodes with one or more other domains. For example,the “date/time” property node is associated with many different domains(e.g., a scheduling domain, a travel reservation domain, a movie ticketdomain, etc.), in addition to restaurant reservation domain 762 andreminder domain 764.

While FIG. 7C illustrates two example domains within ontology 760, otherdomains include, for example, “find a movie,” “initiate a phone call,”“find directions,” “schedule a meeting,” “send a message,” and “providean answer to a question,” “read a list,” “providing navigationinstructions,” “provide instructions for a task” and so on. A “send amessage” domain is associated with a “send a message” actionable intentnode, and further includes property nodes such as “recipient(s),”“message type,” and “message body.” The property node “recipient” isfurther defined, for example, by the sub-property nodes such as“recipient name” and “message address.”

In some examples, ontology 760 includes all the domains (and henceactionable intents) that the digital assistant is capable ofunderstanding and acting upon. In some examples, ontology 760 ismodified, such as by adding or removing entire domains or nodes, or bymodifying relationships between the nodes within the ontology 760.

In some examples, nodes associated with multiple related actionableintents are clustered under a “super domain” in ontology 760. Forexample, a “travel” super-domain includes a cluster of property nodesand actionable intent nodes related to travel. The actionable intentnodes related to travel includes “airline reservation,” “hotelreservation,” “car rental,” “get directions,” “find points of interest,”and so on. The actionable intent nodes under the same super domain(e.g., the “travel” super domain) have many property nodes in common.For example, the actionable intent nodes for “airline reservation,”“hotel reservation,” “car rental,” “get directions,” and “find points ofinterest” share one or more of the property nodes “start location,”“destination,” “departure date/time,” “arrival date/time,” and “partysize.”

In some examples, each node in ontology 760 is associated with a set ofwords and/or phrases that are relevant to the property or actionableintent represented by the node. The respective set of words and/orphrases associated with each node are the so-called “vocabulary”associated with the node. The respective set of words and/or phrasesassociated with each node are stored in vocabulary index 744 inassociation with the property or actionable intent represented by thenode. For example, returning to FIG. 7B, the vocabulary associated withthe node for the property of “restaurant” includes words such as “food,”“drinks,” “cuisine,” “hungry,” “eat,” “pizza,” “fast food,” “meal,” andso on. For another example, the vocabulary associated with the node forthe actionable intent of “initiate a phone call” includes words andphrases such as “call,” “phone,” “dial,” “ring,” “call this number,”“make a call to,” and so on. The vocabulary index 744 optionallyincludes words and phrases in different languages.

Natural language processing module 732 receives the candidate textrepresentations (e.g., text string(s) or token sequence(s)) from STTprocessing module 730, and for each candidate representation, determineswhat nodes are implicated by the words in the candidate textrepresentation. In some examples, if a word or phrase in the candidatetext representation is found to be associated with one or more nodes inontology 760 (via vocabulary index 744), the word or phrase “triggers”or “activates” those nodes. Based on the quantity and/or relativeimportance of the activated nodes, natural language processing module732 selects one of the actionable intents as the task that the userintended the digital assistant to perform. In some examples, the domainthat has the most “triggered” nodes is selected. In some examples, thedomain having the highest confidence value (e.g., based on the relativeimportance of its various triggered nodes) is selected. In someexamples, the domain is selected based on a combination of the numberand the importance of the triggered nodes. In some examples, additionalfactors are considered in selecting the node as well, such as whetherthe digital assistant has previously correctly interpreted a similarrequest from a user.

User data 748 includes user-specific information, such as user-specificvocabulary, user preferences, user address, user's default and secondarylanguages, user's contact list, and other short-term or long-terminformation for each user. In some examples, natural language processingmodule 732 uses the user-specific information to supplement theinformation contained in the user input to further define the userintent. For example, for a user request “invite my friends to mybirthday party,” natural language processing module 732 is able toaccess user data 748 to determine who the “friends” are and when andwhere the “birthday party” would be held, rather than requiring the userto provide such information explicitly in his/her request.

It should be recognized that in some examples, natural languageprocessing module 732 is implemented using one or more machine learningmechanisms (e.g., neural networks). In particular, the one or moremachine learning mechanisms are configured to receive a candidate textrepresentation and contextual information associated with the candidatetext representation. Based on the candidate text representation and theassociated contextual information, the one or more machine learningmechanism are configured to determine intent confidence scores over aset of candidate actionable intents. Natural language processing module732 can select one or more candidate actionable intents from the set ofcandidate actionable intents based on the determined intent confidencescores. In some examples, an ontology (e.g., ontology 760) is also usedto select the one or more candidate actionable intents from the set ofcandidate actionable intents.

Other details of searching an ontology based on a token string isdescribed in U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 12/341,743 for “Methodand Apparatus for Searching Using An Active Ontology,” filed Dec. 22,2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

In some examples, once natural language processing module 732 identifiesan actionable intent (or domain) based on the user request, naturallanguage processing module 732 generates a structured query to representthe identified actionable intent. In some examples, the structured queryincludes parameters for one or more nodes within the domain for theactionable intent, and at least some of the parameters are populatedwith the specific information and requirements specified in the userrequest. For example, the user says “Make me a dinner reservation at asushi place at 7.” In this case, natural language processing module 732is able to correctly identify the actionable intent to be “restaurantreservation” based on the user input. According to the ontology, astructured query for a “restaurant reservation” domain includesparameters such as {Cuisine}, {Time}, {Date}, {Party Size}, and thelike. In some examples, based on the speech input and the text derivedfrom the speech input using STT processing module 730, natural languageprocessing module 732 generates a partial structured query for therestaurant reservation domain, where the partial structured queryincludes the parameters {Cuisine=“Sushi”} and {Time=“7 pm”}. However, inthis example, the user's utterance contains insufficient information tocomplete the structured query associated with the domain. Therefore,other necessary parameters such as {Party Size} and {Date} is notspecified in the structured query based on the information currentlyavailable. In some examples, natural language processing module 732populates some parameters of the structured query with receivedcontextual information. For example, in some examples, if the userrequested a sushi restaurant “near me,” natural language processingmodule 732 populates a {location} parameter in the structured query withGPS coordinates from the user device.

In some examples, natural language processing module 732 identifiesmultiple candidate actionable intents for each candidate textrepresentation received from STT processing module 730. Further, in someexamples, a respective structured query (partial or complete) isgenerated for each identified candidate actionable intent. Naturallanguage processing module 732 determines an intent confidence score foreach candidate actionable intent and ranks the candidate actionableintents based on the intent confidence scores. In some examples, naturallanguage processing module 732 passes the generated structured query (orqueries), including any completed parameters, to task flow processingmodule 736 (“task flow processor”). In some examples, the structuredquery (or queries) for the m-best (e.g., m highest ranked) candidateactionable intents are provided to task flow processing module 736,where m is a predetermined integer greater than zero. In some examples,the structured query (or queries) for the m-best candidate actionableintents are provided to task flow processing module 736 with thecorresponding candidate text representation(s).

Other details of inferring a user intent based on multiple candidateactionable intents determined from multiple candidate textrepresentations of a speech input are described in U.S. Utilityapplication Ser. No. 14/298,725 for “System and Method for InferringUser Intent From Speech Inputs,” filed Jun. 6, 2014, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Task flow processing module 736 is configured to receive the structuredquery (or queries) from natural language processing module 732, completethe structured query, if necessary, and perform the actions required to“complete” the user's ultimate request. In some examples, the variousprocedures necessary to complete these tasks are provided in task flowmodels 754. In some examples, task flow models 754 include proceduresfor obtaining additional information from the user and task flows forperforming actions associated with the actionable intent.

As described above, in order to complete a structured query, task flowprocessing module 736 needs to initiate additional dialogue with theuser in order to obtain additional information, and/or disambiguatepotentially ambiguous utterances. When such interactions are necessary,task flow processing module 736 invokes dialogue flow processing module734 to engage in a dialogue with the user. In some examples, dialogueflow processing module 734 determines how (and/or when) to ask the userfor the additional information and receives and processes the userresponses. The questions are provided to and answers are received fromthe users through I/O processing module 728. In some examples, dialogueflow processing module 734 presents dialogue output to the user viaaudio and/or visual output, and receives input from the user via spokenor physical (e.g., clicking) responses. Continuing with the exampleabove, when task flow processing module 736 invokes dialogue flowprocessing module 734 to determine the “party size” and “date”information for the structured query associated with the domain“restaurant reservation,” dialogue flow processing module 734 generatesquestions such as “For how many people?” and “On which day?” to pass tothe user. Once answers are received from the user, dialogue flowprocessing module 734 then populates the structured query with themissing information, or pass the information to task flow processingmodule 736 to complete the missing information from the structuredquery.

Once task flow processing module 736 has completed the structured queryfor an actionable intent, task flow processing module 736 proceeds toperform the ultimate task associated with the actionable intent.Accordingly, task flow processing module 736 executes the steps andinstructions in the task flow model according to the specific parameterscontained in the structured query. For example, the task flow model forthe actionable intent of “restaurant reservation” includes steps andinstructions for contacting a restaurant and actually requesting areservation for a particular party size at a particular time. Forexample, using a structured query such as: {restaurant reservation,restaurant=ABC Café, date=3/12/2012, time=7pm, party size=5}, task flowprocessing module 736 performs the steps of: (1) logging onto a serverof the ABC Café or a restaurant reservation system such as OPENTABLE®,(2) entering the date, time, and party size information in a form on thewebsite, (3) submitting the form, and (4) making a calendar entry forthe reservation in the user's calendar.

In some examples, task flow processing module 736 employs the assistanceof service processing module 738 (“service processing module”) tocomplete a task requested in the user input or to provide aninformational answer requested in the user input. For example, serviceprocessing module 738 acts on behalf of task flow processing module 736to make a phone call, set a calendar entry, invoke a map search, invokeor interact with other user applications installed on the user device,and invoke or interact with third-party services (e.g., a restaurantreservation portal, a social networking website, a banking portal,etc.). In some examples, the protocols and application programminginterfaces (API) required by each service are specified by a respectiveservice model among service models 756. Service processing module 738accesses the appropriate service model for a service and generaterequests for the service in accordance with the protocols and APIsrequired by the service according to the service model.

For example, if a restaurant has enabled an online reservation service,the restaurant submits a service model specifying the necessaryparameters for making a reservation and the APIs for communicating thevalues of the necessary parameter to the online reservation service.When requested by task flow processing module 736, service processingmodule 738 establishes a network connection with the online reservationservice using the web address stored in the service model, and send thenecessary parameters of the reservation (e.g., time, date, party size)to the online reservation interface in a format according to the API ofthe online reservation service.

In some examples, natural language processing module 732, dialogue flowprocessing module 734, and task flow processing module 736 are usedcollectively and iteratively to infer and define the user's intent,obtain information to further clarify and refine the user intent, andfinally generate a response (i.e., an output to the user, or thecompletion of a task) to fulfill the user's intent. The generatedresponse is a dialogue response to the speech input that at leastpartially fulfills the user's intent. Further, in some examples, thegenerated response is output as a speech output. In these examples, thegenerated response is sent to speech synthesis module 740 (e.g., speechsynthesizer) where it can be processed to synthesize the dialogueresponse in speech form. In yet other examples, the generated responseis data content relevant to satisfying a user request in the speechinput.

In examples where task flow processing module 736 receives multiplestructured queries from natural language processing module 732, taskflow processing module 736 initially processes the first structuredquery of the received structured queries to attempt to complete thefirst structured query and/or execute one or more tasks or actionsrepresented by the first structured query. In some examples, the firststructured query corresponds to the highest ranked actionable intent. Inother examples, the first structured query is selected from the receivedstructured queries based on a combination of the corresponding speechrecognition confidence scores and the corresponding intent confidencescores. In some examples, if task flow processing module 736 encountersan error during processing of the first structured query (e.g., due toan inability to determine a necessary parameter), the task flowprocessing module 736 can proceed to select and process a secondstructured query of the received structured queries that corresponds toa lower ranked actionable intent. The second structured query isselected, for example, based on the speech recognition confidence scoreof the corresponding candidate text representation, the intentconfidence score of the corresponding candidate actionable intent, amissing necessary parameter in the first structured query, or anycombination thereof.

Speech synthesis module 740 is configured to synthesize speech outputsfor presentation to the user. Speech synthesis module 740 synthesizesspeech outputs based on text provided by the digital assistant. Forexample, the generated dialogue response is in the form of a textstring. Speech synthesis module 740 converts the text string to anaudible speech output. Speech synthesis module 740 uses any appropriatespeech synthesis technique in order to generate speech outputs fromtext, including, but not limited to, concatenative synthesis, unitselection synthesis, diphone synthesis, domain-specific synthesis,formant synthesis, articulatory synthesis, hidden Markov model (HMM)based synthesis, and sinewave synthesis. In some examples, speechsynthesis module 740 is configured to synthesize individual words basedon phonemic strings corresponding to the words. For example, a phonemicstring is associated with a word in the generated dialogue response. Thephonemic string is stored in metadata associated with the word. Speechsynthesis model 740 is configured to directly process the phonemicstring in the metadata to synthesize the word in speech form.

In some examples, instead of (or in addition to) using speech synthesismodule 740, speech synthesis is performed on a remote device (e.g., theserver system 108), and the synthesized speech is sent to the userdevice for output to the user. For example, this can occur in someimplementations where outputs for a digital assistant are generated at aserver system. And because server systems generally have more processingpower or resources than a user device, it is possible to obtain higherquality speech outputs than would be practical with client-sidesynthesis.

Additional details on digital assistants can be found in the U.S.Utility application Ser. No. 12/987,982, entitled “Intelligent AutomatedAssistant,” filed Jan. 10, 2011, and U.S. Utility application Ser. No.13/251,088, entitled “Generating and Processing Task Items ThatRepresent Tasks to Perform,” filed Sep. 30, 2011, the entire disclosuresof which are incorporated herein by reference.

4. Exemplary Functions and Architectures of a Digital AssistantProviding Media Items Based on Phonetic Matching Techniques.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a digital assistant 800 forproviding media items based on phonetic matching techniques, accordingto various examples. In some examples, digital assistant 800 (e.g.,digital assistant system 700) is implemented by a user device accordingto various examples. In some examples, the user device, a server (e.g.,server 108), or a combination thereof, can implement digital assistant800. The user device can be implemented using, for example, device 104,200, 400, or 600 as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A-2B, 4, and 6. In someexamples, digital assistant 800 can be implemented using digitalassistant module 726 of digital assistant system 700. Digital assistant800 includes one or more modules, models, applications, vocabularies,and user data similar to those of digital assistant module 726. Forexample, digital assistant 800 includes the following sub-modules, or asubset or superset thereof: an input/output processing module, an STTprocess module, a natural language processing module, a task flowprocessing module, and a speech synthesis module. These modules can alsobe implemented similar to that of the corresponding modules asillustrated in FIG. 7B, and therefore are not shown and not repeatedlydescribed.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, in some embodiments, digital assistant 800 caninclude a request detector 810, a media item search engine 820, arepository 830 of media items, and a phonetic matching module 840.Digital assistant 800 can receive a speech input 802. FIG. 9 illustratesa block diagram of digital assistant 800 receiving speech inputs from auser 902, according to various examples. With references to FIGS. 8 and9, speech input 802 can include unstructured natural languageinformation. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a speech input 802A mayinclude “Play Skrrt Skrrt by 21 Savage;” and a speech input 802B mayinclude “Find me ‘Candyman by Zedd.” While speech inputs 802A and 802Binclude information such as a song name, the name of an album, and thename of the artist, it is appreciated that a speech input may alsoinclude other information such as the genre, the featuring actor, thefamous scenes, etc.

In some examples, digital assistant 800 is required to accuratelydetermine the user intent and obtain the correct media item, despitesimilarities of pronunciations, similarities of media items available ina repository, and lack of context information for intent inference. Inthe above examples, digital assistant 800 would be required determine,for example, whether speech input 802A includes the word “Skirt,”“Skrrt,” or “Skrt;” and whether speech input 802B includes the word“Candyman” or a sequence of words “Candy man.” In some examples, theuser may not provide additional information, and speech input 802A or802B may be all the information available to digital assistant 800 forinference of user intent. The phonetic matching techniques can improvethe accuracy of obtaining a correct media item, as described in moredetail below.

As described, digital assistant 800 can include a request detector 810.FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a request detector 810, accordingto various examples. Request detector 810 can determine whether speechinput 802 includes a user request for a media item. Speech input 802 mayinclude any information or any type of request. For example, speechinput 802 may include a request for weather information, stock price,etc., and has nothing to do with requesting a media item. Thus, it isdesired to first determine whether speech input 802 includes a userrequest for a media item. A media item can be an audible item (e.g., asong, an audio book/chapter, a voice output of news, etc.), a video item(e.g., a movie, a documentary, a TV show, etc.), or a combinationthereof.

With reference to FIG. 10, request detector 810 receives speech input802. In some embodiments, to determine whether speech input 802 includesa user request for a media item, request detector 810 can obtain tokensor a sequence of words based on speech input 802. For example, requestdetector 810 can include a speech-to-text (STT) processing module 1010.STT processing module 1010 can be implemented using STT processingmodule 730 as described above. Thus, STT processing module 1010 canprocess speech input 802 (e.g., performing feature extraction and speechrecognition using various acoustic and/or language models) and producerecognition results containing a text string (e.g., words, sequence ofwords, or sequence of tokens). Examples of speech recognition modelsinclude Hidden Markov Models, Gaussian-Mixture Models, Deep NeuralNetwork Models, n-gram language models, and other statistical models.

In some examples, STT processing module 1010 can produce multiplecandidate text representations of speech input 802. Each candidate textrepresentation is a sequence of words or tokens corresponding to thespeech input. In some examples, each candidate text representation isassociated with a speech recognition confidence score. Based on thespeech recognition confidence scores, STT processing module 1010 canrank the candidate text representations and provides the n-best (e.g., nhighest ranked) candidate text representation(s) to a request analyzer1020, where n is a predetermined integer greater than zero. For example,in one example, only the highest ranked (n=1) candidate textrepresentation is passed to request analyzer 1020 for determiningwhether speech input 802 includes a user request for a media item. Inanother example, the five highest ranked (n=5) candidate textrepresentations are passed to request analyzer 1020 for determiningwhether speech input 802 includes a user request for a media item.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 10, request analyzer 1020 receivesone or more sequences of words provided by STT processing module 1010.Request analyzer 1020 can determine whether the one or more sequences ofwords include a representation of a user request for media item. In someexamples, request analyzer 1020 can determine whether the one or moresequences of words include one or more predetermined words. For example,a predetermined word (e.g., “play,” “shuffle,” “hear,” “find”) or apredetermined sequence of words (e.g., “can you play . . . ?”) likelyindicates that speech input 802 includes a user request for a mediaitem.

In some examples, request analyzer 1020 can determine whether the one ormore sequences of words correspond to one or more predeterminedgrammars. For example, predetermined grammars of a sequence of words mayhave patterns such as a name of a song followed by a name of an artist(e.g., “Skrrt Skrrt by 21 Savage”), a name of an artist followed by thename of the song (e.g., “21 Savage Skrrt Skrrt”), an article wordfollowed by a name of a song (e.g., “the Skrrt Skrrt”), any wordsfollowed by a name of the artist (e.g., “ . . . 21 Savage”), an articleword followed by a name of an album and/or a name of the artist (e.g.,“the Candyman by Zedd), or any words followed by or following a genre(e.g., “some light music please”). In some examples, if the one or moresequences of words obtained from speech input 802 correspond to one ormore predetermined grammars, it is likely that speech input 802 includesa user request for a media item.

In some examples, request analyzer 1020 can determine whether the one ormore sequences of words provided by STT processing module 1010 include auser request for a media item based on a combination of predeterminedwords and predetermined grammars. For example, request analyzer 1020 candetermine whether a sequence or words include both a predetermined wordand corresponds to any of the patterns described above (e.g., “playSkrrt Skrrt by 21 Savage”). If the sequence or words includes both apredetermined word and corresponds to any of the patterns describedabove, it is likely that speech input 802 includes a user request for amedia item.

In some examples, to reduce the likelihood of false determination ofwhether speech input 802 includes a user request for a media item, astop word detector 1030 can be included in request detector 810. Stopword detector 1030 can determine whether one or more sequences of wordsinclude one or more stop words or phrases. Stop words includecommonly-used words that are frequently determined to indicate that aspeech input includes a request that the digital assistant is unlikelyto be able to recognize. Frequently, these speech inputs may include oneor more stop words such as “playlist” or “podcast.” These words may beassociated with a large number of items that may not correspond to ormay not be supported by the set of candidate media items 824, making itunlikely for them to be recognized by the phonetic matching module 840.In some examples, stop word detector 1030 can include a finite-statemachine to detect a stop word. If one or more stop words are detected,it is unlikely that speech input 802 includes a user request for a mediaitem.

In some examples, request detector 810 can determine a probabilityand/or score for a sequence of words, and compare the probability orscore with a threshold probability or score. If the probability or scoresatisfies the threshold probability or score, request detector 810 candetermine that speech input 802 includes a user request for a mediaitem. For example, request detector 810 may increase a probabilityand/or score for the sequence of words if it includes one or morepredetermined words (e.g., “play”) and/or predetermined grammars (e.g.,a name of a song followed by a name of an artist), and reduces theprobability and/or score if it includes one or more stop words.

As illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 10, in some embodiments, in accordancewith a determination that speech input 802 includes a user request for amedia item, request detector 810 can provide a word sequence 812representing speech input 802 to a media item search engine 820. Mediaitem search engine 820 can determine a candidate media item from arepository 830 of media items. FIG. 11A illustrates a block diagram ofmedia item search engine 820, according to various examples. In someembodiments, media item search engine 820 can include a phonetic symbolsequence generator 1110, a symbolic search engine 1120, and a searchresult refining module 1130. Each of these components of media itemsearch engine 820 is described in more detail below.

With reference to FIG. 11A, phonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 cangenerate a phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802.In some embodiments, phonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 can includea speech synthesis module 740 as described above. In some examples,using speech synthesis module 740, phonetic symbol sequence 1112 can begenerated from a word sequence 812 using any appropriate speechsynthesis technique including, but not limited to, concatenativesynthesis, unit selection synthesis, diphone synthesis, domain-specificsynthesis, formant synthesis, articulatory synthesis, hidden Markovmodel (HMM) based synthesis, and sinewave synthesis. As described above,word sequence 812 is obtained based on speech input 802. In someexamples, due to the user's imperfect pronunciation in speech input 802(e.g., the user's accent), noisy environment, and/or the nature ofinaccuracy associated with speech-to-text conversion, word sequence 812may or may not accurately represent the user intent. For example, speechinput 802 may include an artist name “James Smith,” but speech-to-textprocessing module 1010 shown in FIG. 10 may generate word sequence 812that include the words “fChame Snix.” As such, based on word sequence812, the phonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 can generate a phoneticsymbol sequence 1112 such as “f-ch-ay-m-[ ]-s-n-ix-[ ].”

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 11A, a symbolic search engine 1120can determine, based on phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representingspeech input 802, one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences 1122.A reference phonetic symbol sequence can represent a sequence of wordsobtained from one or more dictionaries. As such, the words representedin a reference phonetic symbol sequence can be words in their standardform (e.g., well-recognized form or error-free form); andcorrespondingly the phonetics included in a reference phonetic symbolcan be standard phonetics. Using the above example, a reference phoneticsymbol sequence of the word sequence “James Smith” may be “[]-jh-ey-m-z-s-m-ih-th.”

In some embodiments, to determine a reference phonetic symbol sequence1122, symbolic search engine 1120 can use a phonomap. A phonomapcorrelates one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences (e.g., aphonetic symbol sequence obtained based on words in a dictionary) to aphonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input. FIG. 11Billustrates a block diagram for generating a phonomap, according variousexamples. FIG. 11C illustrate an exemplary phonomap for a sequence ofwords “James Smith.”

With reference to FIGS. 11A-C, in some embodiments, symbolic searchengine 1120 can generate a phonomap 1146 based on a plurality ofpredetermined operations that may be performed during the generation ofphonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802. Asdescribed above, due to the user's imperfect pronunciation in speechinput 802 (e.g., the user's accent), noisy environment, and/or thenature of inaccuracy associated with speech-to-text conversion, wordsequence 812 may or may not accurately represent the intended words. Insome examples, one or more operations (e.g., insertion, deletion, orsubstitution) may be performed during the generation of phonetic symbolsequence 1112 representing the speech input 802, resulting in inaccuratephonetic symbols, extra phonetic symbols, and/or missing phoneticsymbols. As a result, to determine reference phonetic symbols in areference phonetic symbol sequence 1122, symbolic search engine 1120 candetermine whether one or more of predetermined operations (e.g., aninsertion operation, a substitution operation, and/or a deletionoperation) are performed during the generation of phonetic symbolsequence 1112 representing speech input 802. The insertion operation,substitution operation, and/or deletion operation can be used to mapphonetic symbols that are different but may be frequently related. Forexample, symbolic search engine 1120 can determine, for each phoneticsymbol of the phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input802, whether the phonetic symbol of reference phonetic symbol sequence1122 corresponds to a different reference phonetic symbol. Thecorrespondence may be determined based on a predetermined operation(e.g., insertion, substitution, or deletion) that may be performedduring the generation of phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representingspeech input 802.

As shown in FIGS. 11A and 11C, due to imperfect phone symbol sequencegeneration, phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802may include a phonetic symbol 1154A (e.g., “f”). Phonetic symbol 1154Amay be a frequently inserted or extra phonetic symbol during a phoneticsymbol sequence generation process. Thus, symbolic search engine 1120can determine that phonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 may haveperformed an insertion operation in generating phonetic symbol sequence1112. Therefore, symbolic search engine 1120 can determine that phoneticsymbol 1154A (e.g., a symbol “f”) in phonetic symbol sequence 1112corresponds to phonetic symbol 1152A (e.g., a silent symbol or nosymbol) in reference phonetic symbol sequence 1122.

As another example, due to imperfect phone symbol sequence generation,phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing the speech input may includea phonetic symbol 1154B (e.g., “ch”). Phonetic symbol 1154B may be afrequent substitute or alternative for phonetic symbol 1152B (e.g.,“jh”) during the phonetic symbol sequence generation process. Thus,symbolic search engine 1120 can determine that phonetic symbol sequencegenerator 1110 may have performed a substitution operation in generatingphonetic symbol sequence 1112. Therefore symbolic search engine 1120 candetermine that phonetic symbol 1154B (e.g., a symbol “ch”) in thephonetic symbol sequence 1112 corresponds to phonetic symbol 1152B(e.g., a symbol “jh”) in reference phonetic symbol sequence 1122.

As another example, due to imperfect phonetic symbol sequencegeneration, phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing the speech inputmay include a phonetic symbol 1154D (e.g., a silent symbol or nosymbol). Phonetic symbol 1154D may be frequently omitted or deletedphonetic symbol during the phonetic symbol sequence generation process.Thus, symbolic search engine 1120 can determine that phonetic symbolsequence generator 1110 may have performed a deletion operation ingenerating phonetic symbol sequence 1112. Therefore, symbolic searchengine 1120 can determine that phonetic symbol 1154D (e.g., a silentsymbol or no symbol) in the phonetic symbol sequence 1112 corresponds tophonetic symbol 1152D (e.g., a symbol “z”) in reference phonetic symbolsequence 1122.

In some examples, if there is an exact match between a phonetic symbolgenerated based on a current speech input and a reference phoneticsymbol, then symbolic search engine 1120 can determine that phoneticsymbol sequence generator 1110 may not have performed an operation suchas insertion, substitution, or deletion. As an example, symbolic searchengine 1120 can determine, for each phonetic symbol of the phoneticsymbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802, whether the phoneticsymbol of reference phonetic symbol sequence 1122 matches with a samereference phonetic symbol of reference phonetic symbol sequence 1122. Asshown in FIG. 11C, symbolic search engine 1120 can determine thatphonetic symbol 1154C (e.g., “m”) in phonetic symbol sequence 1112 matchexactly with a reference phonetic symbol 1152C (e.g., “m”) in referencephonetic symbol sequence 1122. As a result, phonomap 1146 indicates thatthere is a match, and no operation is likely performed by phoneticsymbol sequence generator 1110.

In some examples, symbolic search engine 1120 can further determine, foreach phonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representingspeech input 802, a probability a phonetic symbol of phonetic symbolsequence 1112 corresponds to a reference phonetic symbol of referencephonetic symbol sequence 1122. Symbolic search engine 1120 can includethe probabilities in a phonomap. FIG. 11D illustrates such an exemplaryphonomap, according to various examples.

With reference to FIGS. 11A and 11D, symbolic search engine 1120 cangenerate a phonomap 1160. Phonomap 1160 can include a plurality ofphonetic symbols 1164 in phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representingspeech input 802. Phonetic symbols 1164 may include, for example,“Ae-Eh-B-D-Dx-Del,” where “Del” represents a deletion operation or anomission of a symbol. Phonomap 1160 can also include a plurality ofreference phonetic symbols 1162 in reference phonetic symbol sequence1122. Reference phonetic symbols 1162 can include, for example,“ae0-ae1-ae2-eh0-eh1-eh2-b<-b>-d<-d>-dx-ins,” where “ins” represents aninsertion operation. In phonomap 1160, a number correlates with aphonetic symbol 1164 and a reference phonetic symbol 1162 represents theprobability that a particular phonetic symbol 1164 corresponds to aparticular reference phonetic symbol 1162. For example, element 1166A inphonomap 1160 represents a probability (e.g., 92%) that phonetic symbol1164A (e.g., “Ae”) in phonetic symbol sequence 1112 corresponds toreference phonetic symbol 1162A (e.g., “ae0”) in reference phoneticsymbol sequence 1122. That is, element 1166A represents the probabilitythat phonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 may have performed asubstitution operation in generating phonetic symbol 1164A in phoneticsymbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802 (e.g., substitute“ae0” with “Ae”).

As another example, element 1166B in phonomap 1160 represents aprobability (e.g., 6%) that phonetic symbol 1164B (e.g., “D”) inphonetic symbol sequent 1112 representing speech input 802 may have beeninserted by phonetic symbol sequence generator 1110. As another example,element 1166C in phonomap 1160 represents a probability (e.g., 5%) thatphonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 may have performed a deletionoperation or omitted reference phonetic symbol 1162C (e.g., “b<”) inphonetic symbol sequent 1112 representing speech input 802. In someexamples, the probabilities in phonomap 1160 can be determined based ontraining data. Training of a phonomap is described in more detail inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/401,572, entitled “PHONETICALLYBASED SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEM AND METHOD,” filed Mar. 31, 2003, andissued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,146,319, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and included in the Appendix.

In some examples, phonomap 1160 can also include other information suchas a relative frequency of a particular reference phonetic symbol occursamong all reference phonetic symbols. For example, element 1166Dindicate that the relative frequency reference phonetic symbol 1162B(e.g., “ae1”) occurs among all reference phonetic symbols is 1. Phonomap1160 can also include information such as an expected score whenphonetic symbol sequence generator 1110 generates phonetic symbols 1164.The score may indicate an accuracy or likelihood that the phoneticsymbols 1164 represent speech input 802.

With reference back to FIG. 11A, in some embodiments, search resultrefining module 1130 can determine a candidate media item based onreference phonetic symbol sequences 1122. For example, for each of theone or more reference phonetic symbol sequences 1122, search resultrefining module 1130 can determine a score indicating the degree ofmatching between phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input802 and a particular reference phonetic symbol sequences 1122. Forexample, if a particular reference phonetic symbol sequence 1122 has ahigher degree of matching (e.g., with no or only a few operations suchas substitution, insertion, or deletion), the particular referencephonetic symbol sequence 1122 may have a higher score. In some examples,search result refining module 1130 can determine the one or more mediaitems based on the scores associated with the one or more referencephonetic symbol sequences 1122. For example, search result refiningmodule 1130 can rank one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences1122 based on their respective scores; select the reference phoneticsymbol sequence having the highest score; and identify the candidatemedia item based on the reference phonetic symbol sequence having thehighest score.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 11A, in some examples, identifying thecandidate media item can be performed using the reference phoneticsymbol sequence having the highest score and phonetic representations832 of media items available in repository 830 of media items. Forexample, based on the repository 830 of media items, a phonetic symbolsequence of information relating to each available media item (e.g.,title, album, genre, artist, etc.) available in repository 830 can begenerated. The phonetic symbol sequences of information of all mediaitems available in repository 830 can form phonetic representations 832.Search result refining module 1130 can determine the candidate mediaitem by mapping the reference phonetic symbol sequence having thehighest score to phonetic representations 832 using, for example, aweighted finite state transducer (WFST). A WFST can enable the mappingbetween two sets of symbols (e.g., phonetic symbols in referencephonetic symbol sequences 1122 and phonetic symbols included in eachphonetic symbol sequence of phonetic representations 832). Thus, basedon the mapping of the phonetic symbol sequences, a candidate media itemcan be identified. The candidate media item can correspond to a phoneticsymbol sequence of phonetic representations 832 that is the closestmatch with the reference phonetic symbol sequence having the highestscore. Using WFST enables a faster and efficient determination of thecandidate media item. As shown in FIG. 11A, search result refiningmodule 1130 can provide a phonetic symbol sequence 1132 of the candidatemedia item for further processing. Phonetic symbol sequence 1132 of thecandidate media item represents the phonetic symbol sequence of phoneticrepresentations 832 that is the closest match with the referencephonetic symbol sequence having the highest score.

With reference back to FIG. 8, media item search engine 820 can providea phonetic representation 822 of speech input 802 and a phoneticrepresentation 824 of a candidate media item. Phonetic representation822 of the speech input 802 can include, for example, phonetic symbolsequence 1112 representing speech input 802, as shown in FIG. 11A.Phonetic representation 824 of the candidate media item can includephonetic symbol sequence 1132 of the candidate media item as shown inFIG. 11A. In some examples, based on a difference between phoneticrepresentation 824 of the candidate media item and phoneticrepresentation 822 of the speech input 802, a phonetic matching module840 can determine whether the candidate media item is to be provided tothe user.

As described above, media item search engine 820 can determine phoneticrepresentation 824 of a candidate media item. The candidate media itemcan be identified from repository 830 of media items. Thus, thecandidate media item represents the best-matching media item availablefrom repository 830. But the candidate media item may or may not be theitem that the user intended. For example, if a particular media item theuser intended is not stored in repository 830, the candidate media itemmay represent a closely-related media item, but may not be the exactitem the user intended. Therefore, a further determination of whetherthe candidate media item matches with the user intent derived fromspeech input 802 can improve the accuracy and provide a more efficientuser-interaction interface. For example, if the media item user intendedis not found in repository 830, the candidate media item (e.g., the itemrepresenting the best matching in repository 830) may not be provided tothe user. In some examples, further determination of whether thecandidate media item matches with the user intent may not be required ifa score associated with phonetic representation 824 of the candidatemedia item satisfies a threshold condition. For example, the scoreassociated with phonetic representation 824 may correspond to thehighest score of a reference phonetic symbol sequence 1122. If thehighest score exceeds a particular threshold condition, it may indicatethat the candidate media item highly likely matches with the user intentand the process of phonetic matching (as described in more detail below)may not be required. Accordingly, the determination of whether thecandidate media item matches with the user intent can be foregone (e.g.,not performed or abandoned) and the candidate media item can be providedto the user. Foregoing the determination of whether the candidate mediaitem matches with the user intent may improve the speed of responding tothe user.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 11A, in some embodiments, to determinewhether the candidate media item is to be provided to the user (e.g.,determine whether the candidate media item sufficiently matches with anitem the user intended), a phonetic matching module 840 can determine adifference between phonetic representation 824 of the candidate mediaitem and phonetic representation 822 of speech input 802. As describedabove, in some examples, phonetic representation 822 of speech input 802can include phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802;and phonetic representation 824 can include phonetic symbol sequence1132 of the candidate media item. In some examples, the determination ofthe difference can be based on an expected score associated withphonetic symbol sequence 1112 and a score indicating the degree ofmatching between phonetic symbol sequence 1112 and phonetic symbolsequence 1132 of the candidate media item.

In some examples, the expected score associated with phonetic symbolsequence 1112 representing speech input 802 can be a best possible scoreassociated with generating the phonetic symbols included in phoneticsymbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802. In some examples,the best possible score can be a confidence score associated withgenerating phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802.As described above, in some examples, generating phonetic symbolsequence 1112 may include processes of generating a word sequence 812 ofspeech input 802 and generating phonetic symbol sequence 1112 based onword sequence 812. The processes may require speech-to-text conversionto convert speech input 802 to a word sequence 812, and also require aspeech synthesize process to convert word sequence 812 to phoneticsymbol sequence 1112. Thus, one or more confidence scores may bedetermined to indicate the likelihood of accuracy associated with theseprocesses for generating phonetic symbol sequence 1112 based on speechinput 802.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 11A, phonetic matching module 840 candetermine whether the difference between phonetic representation 824 ofthe candidate media item and phonetic representation 822 of speech input802 satisfies a threshold condition; and in accordance with adetermination that the difference satisfies the threshold condition,determine that the candidate media item is to be provided to the user.As described above, phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speechinput 802 can be included in phonetic representation 822 and phoneticsymbol sequence 1132 of the candidate media item can be included inphonetic representation 824. In some examples, phonetic matching module840 can determine whether the difference between phonetic representation824 of the candidate media item and phonetic representation 822 ofspeech input 802 satisfies a threshold condition according to thefollowing formula (1):

(Expected score associated with the phonetic symbol sequence 1112representing speech input 802—the highest score indicating the highestdegree of matching between phonetic symbol sequence 1112 and phoneticsymbol sequence 1132 of the candidate media item)/N<T   (1)

In the above formula (1), “N” denotes the number of phonetic symbolsincluded in phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representing speech input 802;and T denotes the threshold condition (e.g., score difference) forretaining phonetic symbol sequence 1132 of the candidate media item. Assuch, if the above formula is satisfied, it is likely that the candidatemedia item identified based on the available media items stored inrepository 830 matches the user intent represented by speech input 802;and phonetic matching module 840 can determine that the candidate mediaitem represented by phonetic symbol sequence 1132 should be provided tothe user. In some examples, phonetic matching module 840 may include alook-ahead mechanism for abandoning or terminating the determination ofwhether the candidate media item is to be provided to the user. Theabandoning or termination of the determination process may occur if itis determined based on the expected score. For example, the expectedscore associated with the phonetic symbol sequence 1112 representingspeech input 802 may indicate that it is highly unlikely to satisfyformula (1) and therefore the determination process may be abandoned orterminated. Performing the phonetic matching between the phoneticrepresentation 824 of the candidate media item and the phoneticrepresentation 822 of the speech input 802 can improve the likelihood ofaccurately identifying a media item that matches with the user intent.This reduces the error rate and improves end-to-end accuracy based onuser intent.

With reference to back to FIG. 8, in some embodiments, in accordancewith a determination that the candidate media item is to be provided tothe user, digital assistant 800 can provide a candidate media item 842to the user. For example, digital assistant 800 can output an audioand/or video associated with candidate media item 842 (e.g., play asong, a movie, etc.). In some examples, digital assistant 800 canfurther determine additional information (e.g., title, artist, source,album name, genre, etc.) associated with candidate media item 842, andprovide the additional information to the user. For example, digitalassistant 800 can output an audio and/or display visually the additionalinformation to the user.

In some embodiments, digital assistant 800 can determine whetherphonetic matching is likely to be required and may provide one or moremedia items with or without phonetic matching based on thedetermination. Such determination can be based on one or more criteriasuch as a language model score. A language model score indicates thelikelihood of occurrence of the word sequence based on a prior analysisof very large amounts of text. It may indicate the accuracy ofrecognizing and/or interpreting a user request based on the naturallanguage processing results (described above) in absence of phoneticmatching. For example, if digital assistant 800 determines that thelanguage model score satisfies (e.g., higher than or equal to) amodel-score threshold condition, it can determine that phonetic matchingis not required for performing the user request. A language model scorethat satisfies the model-score threshold condition may indicate that thenatural language processing performed with respect to the user input hasa high accuracy and thus further phonetic matching is unlikely to behelpful. For example, a user input may include “play some music,” whichis a commonly-used phrase and is well recognized/interpreted by thenatural language processing elements of digital assistant 800.Therefore, digital assistant 800 may determine that the language modelscore associated with the user input “play some music” is higher thanthe model-score threshold condition, and thus does not provide the userinput for phonetic matching. Instead, one or more media items can beidentified and provided to the user without phonetic matching.

In some examples, if digital assistant 800 determines that the languagemodel score does not satisfy (e.g., is lower than) a model-scorethreshold condition, it may indicate that the recognition/interpretationof the user input based on natural language processing without phoneticmatching is uncertain. Thus, digital assistant 800 can determine thatphonetic matching is required for performing the user request andtherefore provide the user input for phonetic matching. In someembodiments, the determination of whether phonetic matching is requiredbefore providing the user input to phonetic matching can improve theaccuracy of identifying media items the user requests and improve theefficiency of providing the media items. For example, if all user inputsare provided for phonetic matching without a determination of whetherthe phonetic matching is required, digital assistant 800 may be unableto accurately identify a specific media item for certain user requests(e.g., commonly-used phrases such as “play some music”) because aparticular item specifying an artist or title may sometimes happen tomatch better due to the variations that occur in automatic speechrecognition.

5. Process for Providing Media Items Based on Phonetic MatchingTechniques

FIGS. 12A-12E illustrates process 1200 for operating a digital assistantto provide media items based on phonetic matching techniques, accordingto various examples. Process 1200 is performed, for example, using oneor more electronic devices implementing a digital assistant. In someexamples, process 1200 is performed using a client-server system (e.g.,system 100), and the blocks of process 1200 are divided up in any mannerbetween the server (e.g., DA server 106) and a client device. In otherexamples, the blocks of process 1200 are divided up between the serverand multiple client devices (e.g., a mobile phone and a smart watch).Thus, while portions of process 1200 are described herein as beingperformed by particular devices of a client-server system, it will beappreciated that process 1200 is not so limited. In other examples,process 1200 is performed using only a client device (e.g., user device104) or only multiple client devices. In process 1200, some blocks are,optionally, combined, the order of some blocks is, optionally, changed,and some blocks are, optionally, omitted. In some examples, additionalsteps may be performed in combination with the process 1200.

With reference to FIG. 12A, at block 1202, a speech input is receivedfrom a user. At block 1204, the speech input includes unstructurednatural language information (e.g., “Play Skrrt Skrrt by 21 Savage”).

At block 1206, it is determined whether the speech input includes a userrequest for a media item. At block 1208, to determine whether the speechinput includes a user request for a media item, a sequence of words isobtained based on the speech input. At block 1210, to obtain thesequence of words, a speech-to-text conversion of the speech input isperformed based on a statistical language model.

At block 1212, based on obtained sequence of words, it is determinedwhether the sequence of words includes a representation of the userrequest for a media item. At block 1214, in some examples, to determinewhether the sequence of words includes a representation of the userrequest, it is determined whether the sequence of words includes one ormore predetermined words (e.g., “play”). At block 1216, in someexamples, to determine whether the sequence of words includes arepresentation of the user request, it is determined whether thesequence of words corresponds to one or more predetermined grammars(e.g., a media item name followed by an artist). At block 1218, in someexamples, to determine whether the sequence of words includes arepresentation of the user request, it is determined whether thesequence of words includes one or more stop words (e.g., “playlist”).

With reference to FIG. 12B, at block 1220, in accordance with adetermination that the speech input includes a user request for a mediaitem, a candidate media item is determined from a repository of mediaitems. At block 1222, to determine the candidate media item, a phoneticsymbol sequence is generated to represent the speech input. At block1224, the phonetic symbol sequence is generated based on a sequence ofwords obtained from a speech-to-text conversion of the speech input.

At block 1226, based on the phonetic symbol sequence representing thespeech input, one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences aredetermined. At block 1228, the reference phonetic symbol sequencesrepresent sequences of words obtained from one or more dictionaries. Atblock 1230, in some examples, to determine a reference phonetic symbolsequence, it is determined, for each phonetic symbol of the phoneticsymbol sequence representing the speech input, whether the phoneticsymbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representing the speech inputmatches with a same reference phonetic symbol.

At block 1232, in some examples, to determine a reference phoneticsymbol sequence, it is determined, for each phonetic symbol of thephonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input, whether thephonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representing the speechinput corresponds to a different reference phonetic symbol. At block1234, to determine the correspondence, it is determined whether one ormore predetermined operations are performed during the generation of aphonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input. In someexamples, the predetermined operation is a substitution operation, adeletion operation, and/or an insertion operation. At block 1236, it isdetermined, for each phonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequencerepresenting the speech input, a probability that the phonetic symbol ofthe phonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input correspondsto a reference phonetic symbol.

With reference to FIG. 12C, at block 1238, the one or more referencephonetic symbol sequences are determined based on matching one or morepatterns associated with the phonetic symbol sequence representing thespeech input with one or more reference patterns.

At block 1240, a candidate media item is determined based on the one ormore determined reference phonetic symbol sequences. At block 1242, todetermine the candidate media item, it is determined, for each of theone or more reference phonetic symbol sequences, a score indicating thedegree of matching between the phonetic symbol sequence representing thespeech input and each of the one or more reference phonetic symbolsequences.

At block 1244, the candidate media item is determined based on thescores associated with the one or more reference phonetic symbolsequences. At block 1246, to determine the candidate media item, the oneor more reference phonetic symbol sequences are ranked based on theirrespective scores. At block 1248, the reference phonetic symbol sequencehaving the highest score is selected. At block 1250, the candidate mediaitem is identified based on the reference phonetic symbol sequencehaving the highest score.

At block 1252, to identify the candidate media item, the referencephonetic symbol sequence having the highest score is mapped to phoneticrepresentations of media items available in the repository of mediaitems. As described above, phonetic representations of media itemsavailable in the repository can include a plurality of phonetic symbolsequences of information associated with the media items (e.g., name ofthe song, artist, album, genre, etc.). At block 1254, the candidatemedia item is identified based on the mapping. For example, thecandidate media item can be identified based on the closest matchingphonetic symbol sequence of a media item among the available media itemsin the repository. At block 1256, in some examples, it is determinedwhether the highest score satisfies a score-threshold condition. Atblock 1258, in accordance with a determination that the highest scoresatisfies the score-threshold condition, it is foregone thedetermination of whether the candidate media item is to be provided tothe user. For example, the score may be high enough to satisfy thescore-threshold condition, and therefore the determination of whetherthe candidate media item is to be provided to the user based on phoneticmatching techniques is not required.

With reference to FIG. 12D, at block 1260, based on a difference betweena phonetic representation of the candidate media item and a phoneticrepresentation of the speech input, it is determined whether thecandidate media item is to be provided to the user.

At block 1262, to determine whether the candidate media item is to beprovided to the user, it is determined the difference between thephonetic representation of the candidate media item and the phoneticrepresentation of the speech input. As described, phonetic matchingbetween the two phonetic representations can be applied. In someexamples, at block 1264, it is determined the difference based on anexpected score associated with a phonetic symbol sequence representingthe speech input and a score indicating the degree of matching betweenthe phonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input and aphonetic symbol sequence of the candidate media item. For example, aformula as described above can be used to determine the difference. Insome examples, the expected score associated with the phonetic symbolsequence of the speech input is a confidence score associated withgenerating the phonetic symbol sequence of the speech input. At block1266, in some examples, while determining whether the candidate mediaitem is to be provided to the user, the determination is terminated orabandoned based on the expected score associated with the phoneticsymbol sequence of the speech input. For example, it may be determinedthat the expected score is too low to satisfy the formula (1) describedabove, and thus further determination is not required.

At block 1268, it is determined whether the difference between thephonetic representation of the candidate media item and the phoneticrepresentation of the speech input satisfies a threshold condition. Atblock 1270, in accordance with a determination that the differencesatisfies the threshold condition, it is determined that the candidatemedia item is to be provided to the user. In some examples, if adifferent satisfies the threshold condition, it is likely that thecandidate media item matches closely to the user intent, and thereforeshould be provided to the user.

At block 1272, in accordance with a determination that the candidatemedia item is to be provided to the user, the candidate media item isprovided to the user. At block 1274, an audio associated with thecandidate media item is outputted (e.g., a song is played). At block1276, additional information associated with the candidate media item isdetermined. The additional information may include, for example, theartist, the album, the genre, etc. At block 1278, the additionalinformation associated with the candidate media item is provided to theuser.

With reference to FIG. 12E, at block 1280, prior to determining whetherthe speech input includes a user request for a media item, naturallanguage processing of the speech input is performed. At block 1282, itis determined whether phonetic matching is required based on the resultsof the natural language processing. At block 1284, in accordance with adetermination that phonetic matching is required, the determining ofwhether the speech input includes a user request for a media item isinitiated. At block 1286, in accordance with a determination thatphonetic matching is not required, providing a media item obtained basedon the natural language processing results.

The operations described above with reference to FIGS. 12A-12D areoptionally implemented by components depicted in FIGS. 1-4, 6A-B, and7A-C. For example, the operations of process 800 may be implemented bydigital assistant system 700. It would be clear to a person havingordinary skill in the art how other processes are implemented based onthe components depicted in FIGS. 1-4, 6A-B, and 7A-C.

In accordance with some implementations, a computer-readable storagemedium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable storage medium) isprovided, the computer-readable storage medium storing one or moreprograms for execution by one or more processors of an electronicdevice, the one or more programs including instructions for performingany of the methods or processes described herein.

In accordance with some implementations, an electronic device (e.g., aportable electronic device) is provided that comprises means forperforming any of the methods or processes described herein.

In accordance with some implementations, an electronic device (e.g., aportable electronic device) is provided that comprises a processing unitconfigured to perform any of the methods or processes described herein.

In accordance with some implementations, an electronic device (e.g., aportable electronic device) is provided that comprises one or moreprocessors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by theone or more processors, the one or more programs including instructionsfor performing any of the methods or processes described herein.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the techniques and their practical applications. Othersskilled in the art are thereby enabled to best utilize the techniquesand various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

Although the disclosure and examples have been fully described withreference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that variouschanges and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in theart. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as beingincluded within the scope of the disclosure and examples as defined bythe claims. Further, while this disclosure use media items as examples,those skilled in the art can appreciate that the techniques can beapplied to any other items, such as geographical lists of itemsincluding points of interest and postal addresses.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: one or moreprocessors; memory; and one or more programs stored in memory, the oneor more programs including instructions for: receiving a speech inputfrom a user; determining whether the speech input includes a userrequest for a media item; in accordance with a determination that thespeech input includes a user request for a media item, determining acandidate media item from a repository of media items; determining,based on a difference between a phonetic representation of the candidatemedia item and a phonetic representation of the speech input, whetherthe candidate media item is to be provided to the user; and inaccordance with a determination that the candidate media item is to beprovided to the user, providing the candidate media item to the user. 2.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the speech input comprisesunstructured natural language information.
 3. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein determining whether the speech input includes a userrequest for a media item comprises: obtaining a sequence of words basedon the speech input; and determining whether the sequence of wordsincludes a representation of the user request for a media item.
 4. Theelectronic device of claim 3, wherein determining whether the sequenceof words includes a representation of the user request for a media itemcomprises one or more of: determining whether the sequence of wordsincludes one or more predetermined words; and determining whether thesequence of words corresponds to one or more predetermined grammars. 5.The electronic device of claim 3, wherein determining whether thesequence of words includes a representation of the user request for amedia item comprises determining whether the sequence of words includesone or more stop words.
 6. The electronic device of claim 1, whereindetermining the candidate media item from a repository of media itemscomprises: generating a phonetic symbol sequence representing the speechinput; determining, based on the phonetic symbol sequence representingthe speech input, one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences; anddetermining the candidate media item based on the one or more determinedreference phonetic symbol sequences.
 7. The electronic device of claim6, wherein generating a phonetic symbol sequence representing the speechinput comprises: generating the phonetic symbol sequence representingthe speech input based on a sequence of words obtained from aspeech-to-text conversion of the speech input.
 8. The electronic deviceof claim 6, wherein the reference phonetic symbol sequences representsequences of words obtained from one or more dictionaries.
 9. Theelectronic device of claim 6, wherein determining, based on the phoneticsymbol sequence representing the speech input, the one or more referencephonetic symbol sequences comprises: determining, for each phoneticsymbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input,whether the phonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representingthe speech input matches with a same reference phonetic symbol.
 10. Theelectronic device of claim 6, wherein determining, based on the phoneticsymbol sequence representing the speech input, the one or more referencephonetic symbol sequences comprises: determining, for each phoneticsymbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representing the speech input,whether the phonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representingthe speech input corresponds to a different reference phonetic symbol.11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein determining whether thephonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representing the speechinput corresponds to a different reference phonetic symbol comprises:determining whether one or more predetermined operations are performedduring the generation of a phonetic symbol sequence representing thespeech input.
 12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the one ormore predetermined operations include one or more of: a substitutionoperation, a deletion operation, and an insertion operation.
 13. Theelectronic device of claim 6, further comprising: determining, for eachphonetic symbol of the phonetic symbol sequence representing the speechinput, a probability that the phonetic symbol of the phonetic symbolsequence representing the speech input corresponds to a referencephonetic symbol.
 14. The electronic device of claim 6, whereindetermining the candidate media item based on the one or more determinedreference phonetic symbol sequences comprises: determining, for each ofthe one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences, a score indicatingthe degree of matching between the phonetic symbol sequence representingthe speech input and each of the one or more reference phonetic symbolsequences; and determining the candidate media item based on the scoresassociated with the one or more reference phonetic symbol sequences. 15.The electronic device of claim 14, wherein determining the candidatemedia item based on the scores associated with the one or more referencephonetic symbol sequences comprises: ranking the one or more referencephonetic symbol sequences based on their respective scores; selectingthe reference phonetic symbol sequence having the highest score; andidentifying the candidate media item based on the reference phoneticsymbol sequence having the highest score.
 16. The electronic device ofclaim 15, further comprising: determining whether the highest scoresatisfies a score-threshold condition; in accordance with adetermination that the highest score satisfies the score-thresholdcondition, foregoing the determination of whether the candidate mediaitem is to be provided to the user.
 17. The electronic device of claim15, wherein identifying the candidate media item based on the referencephonetic symbol sequence having the highest score comprises: mapping thereference phonetic symbol sequence having the highest score to phoneticrepresentations of media items available in the repository of mediaitems; identifying the candidate media item based on the mapping. 18.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein determining whether thecandidate media item is to be provided to the user comprises:determining the difference between the phonetic representation of thecandidate media item and the phonetic representation of the speechinput; determining whether the difference between the phoneticrepresentation of the candidate media item and the phoneticrepresentation of the speech input satisfies a threshold condition; andin accordance with a determination that the difference satisfies thethreshold condition, determining that the candidate media item is to beprovided to the user.
 19. The electronic device of claim 18, whereindetermining the difference between the phonetic representation of thecandidate media item and the phonetic representation of the speech inputcomprises: determining the difference based on an expected scoreassociated with a phonetic symbol sequence representing the speech inputand a score indicating the degree of matching between the phoneticsymbol sequence representing the speech input and a phonetic symbolsequence of the candidate media item.
 20. The electronic device of claim19, further comprising: while determining whether the candidate mediaitem is to be provided to the user, terminating the determination basedon the expected score associated with the phonetic symbol sequence ofthe speech input.
 21. The electronic device of claim 1, whereinproviding the candidate media item to the user comprises outputting anaudio associated with the candidate media item.
 22. The electronicdevice of claim 1, further comprising: determining additionalinformation associated with the candidate media item; and providing theadditional information associated with the candidate media item to theuser.
 23. The electronic device of claim 1, prior to determining whetherthe speech input includes a user request for a media item, furthercomprising: performing natural language processing of the speech input;determining whether phonetic matching is required based on the resultsof the natural language processing; in accordance with a determinationthat phonetic matching is required, initiating the determining ofwhether the speech input includes a user request for a media item; andin accordance with a determination that phonetic matching is notrequired, providing a media item obtained based on the natural languageprocessing results.
 24. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprisinginstructions, which when executed by one or more processors of anelectronic device, cause the electronic device to: receive a speechinput from a user; determine whether the speech input includes a userrequest for a media item; in accordance with a determination that thespeech input includes a user request for obtaining a media item,determine a candidate media item from a repository of media items;determine, based on a difference between a phonetic representation ofthe candidate media item and a phonetic representation of the speechinput, whether the candidate media item is to be provided to the user;and in accordance with a determination that the candidate media item isto be provided to the user, provide the candidate media item to theuser.
 25. A method for providing digital assistant service, comprising:at one or more electronic devices with one or more processors andmemory: receiving a speech input from a user; determining whether thespeech input includes a user request for a media item; in accordancewith a determination that the speech input includes a user request forobtaining a media item, determining a candidate media item from arepository of media items; determining, based on a difference between aphonetic representation of the candidate media item and a phoneticrepresentation of the speech input, whether the candidate media item isto be provided to the user; and in accordance with a determination thatthe candidate media item is to be provided to the user, providing thecandidate media item to the user.